Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) is supposedly trying to acquire an American based aerospace company to buy a fleet of drones that would be used to provide internet connectivity to the remote locations and the geographies, where users are not able to access the facility.
A clear message from Facebook
According to the report first published in TechCrunch, CEO Mark Zuckerberg is pushing the company for the acquisition of Titan Aerospace for around $60 million. For Facebook, the acquisition amount is not very big as the social networking site has recently acquired mobile Photoshop app Instagram for $1 billion in cash and stock in 2012, and just a few weeks back acquire the rights to the Whatsapp program for $19 billion.
Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) is now stepping forward for an unusual acquisition, by using the unmanned vehicles for spreading the power of the internet to around 2.7 billion people, who don’t have access to the vital service. The company, which is supposedly the acquisition interest of Facebook, makes near orbital solar powered drones. Facebook, according to TechCrunch, would spend millions of dollars to acquire the company and deploy around 11,000 small UAV in return. The report from Techcrunch also said that Facebook would acquire Titan’s Solara 60 UAV, an aircraft that can carry a payload of 250 pounds apiece.
Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) recently acquired Whatsapp, and now it is all geared to shell out another $60 million for acquisition of Titan. The message is clear that Facebook wants to reach those remote locations, where potential users cannot access the power of internet, and wants to connect these people through services like Whatsapp.
Titan drones different from others
Titan explains on its website that the drones could be used for a range of services like weather monitoring, disaster recovery, earth imaging, and will give the customers “easy access to real-time high-resolution images of the earth, voice and data services, and other atmospheric-based sensor systems.”
Every Titan aircraft has a solar panel, which distinguishes it from its others in the class. These solar panels can generate enough energy to keep a single drone in the sky for up to five full years. There is a strong possibility of Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) striking this deal because the company is an active and vital member of internet.org project, which is a partnership between technology leader, nonprofits, local communities and experts working in close collaboration to enable around two-third of world’s population to access the internet.
