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Facebook prepares to STRAFE the developing world with FRICKIN' internet LASERS

Airborne podules to soak the planet in cat vids

Facebook has been showing off a new laser communications system that CEO Mark Zuckerberg wants to mount on massive solar-powered drones so as to beam the interwebs to inaccessible parts of the world.

"As part of our Internet.org efforts, we're working on ways to use drones and satellites to connect the billion people who don't live in range of existing wireless networks," he said.

"Our Connectivity Lab is developing a laser communications system that can beam data from the sky into communities. This will dramatically increase the speed of sending data over long distances."

Laser communications are nothing new of course, be they here on Earth or providing super-fast broadband into spaaace. But the behoodied one wants to mount them on drones dubbed Aquila – solar-powered aircrafts the size of a Boeing 737 that will loiter 60,000 feet up for months at a time and beam data to and from ground stations.

Zuckerberg's drone

Droning on ... the Facebook internet drone

It's all part of Facebook's plan to link up everyone in the world to the internet, whereupon they can no doubt log onto the free content ad network. It's not quite as self-interested as that – Zuck appears to genuinely believe that the internet should be open to all – but shareholders need to be placated.

The cost of the lasers-in-the-sky system will be high, but only a fraction of the expense of building landlines around the world. There's also the matter of getting satellite stations installed in remote areas to consider, but that's doable with current technology.

No date has been given for the laser communications system's deployment, and Zuckerberg did say that other connectivity options are on the table. ®

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