It鈥檚 about the size of a shoebox. You can stick it on a tree. It can survive howling wind and blistering heat and it鈥檚 all part of Facebook鈥檚 ambitious plan to bring the internet to the furthest reaches of the globe.
On Wednesday, Facebook unveiled : an open source and relatively low cost device that can drive a wireless network for up to 1,500 people over a 10 kilometre radius using a basic 2G cellular network, a speedy LTE network or a traditional Wi-Fi connection.
鈥淢ore than 4 billion people still don't have basic internet access, and one of the biggest challenges is figuring out how to reach remote areas existing infrastructure doesn't cover,鈥� Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote on his Facebook page.
鈥淎long with our solar-powered aircraft Aquila and high-bandwidth laser beams, OpenCellular is the next step on our journey to provide better, more affordable connectivity to bring the world closer together.鈥�
OpenCellular, which can also be used as a cellular access point, is built to withstand the elements and can be stuck on everything from a hydro pole to a building to a tree. Facebook decided to open source the device鈥檚 hardware and software so that anyone 鈥� from telecom operators to researchers to development workers 鈥� can easily and cheaply create and operate wireless networks in places where building cellular towers would be prohibitively expensive.
OpenCellular, which is currently being tested, is just the latest step in Facebook鈥檚 quest to connect our world. Last July, the company announced that it would begin flying : a massive high-altitude solar-powered drone designed to beam internet service to remote communities.
