Abstract

Nearly half the world population, greater than three billion in total, has either no access or fairly poor access to the Internet. Facebook, through its Internet.org partnership intends to provide Internet access to the developing countries of the world. The required data-rate to provide Internet service to those online simultaneously in these countries is estimated at well over 100 Tbps; a staggering data-rate. Cost effective means are required to make the service possible and that requires significant advancements of the state-of-the-art in technology at a variety of communications bands and for all telecomm scenarios from terrestrial inks to satellite links.<br />

© 2017 Optical Society of America