A US company is planning to build an
'Outernet - a global network of cube
satellites broadcasting Internet data to all the people on the planet - for
free.
The
idea is to offer free Internet access to all people, regardless of location,
bypassing filtering or other means of censorship, according to the New York
based non-profit organisation, Media
Development Investment Fund (MDIF). MDIF proposes that hundreds of cube
satellites be built and launched to create a constellation of sorts in the sky,
allowing anyone with a phone or computer to access Internet data sent to the
satellites by several hundred ground stations.
The organisation claims that 40 per cent of
the people in the world today are still not able to connect to the Internet -
and it's not just because of restrictive governments such as North Korea - it's
also due to the high cost of bringing service to remote areas, 'phys.org'
reported. An Outernet would allow people from Siberia to parts of the western
US to remote islands or villages in Africa to receive the same news as those in
New York or Tokyo. The Outernet would be one-way - data would flow from feeders
to the satellites which would broadcast to all below. MDIF plans to add the ability to transmit from
anywhere as well as soon as funds become available.
MDIF has acknowledged that building such a
network would not be cheap. Such satellites typically run USD 100,000 to USD
300,000 to build and launch. The timeline for the project calls for deploying
the initial cubesats as early as next summer.
Media Development
Investment Fund (MDIF) is a New York-registered non-profit corporation and
investment fund that provides low-cost financing to independent news media in
countries with a history of media oppression. It works with newspapers, radio
stations, and TV companies in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the CIS, and the
Balkans. It was originally founded as the Media Development Loan Fund (MDLF)
before changing its name in 2013. Through low-cost capital (mainly loans), business
training and other advice and support, it aims to help news outlets committed
to responsible journalism become commercially sustainable, believing that only
financially independent news media can stay editorially independent over the
long term.
MDIF was founded
in 1995 by Saša Vučinić and Stuart Auerbach, the late Washington Post
reporter and editor. Previously Vučinić was editor-in-chief and general manager
of B92 radio in Belgrade when, in the early 1990s, the station started to
experience financial problems caused by government interference. Witnessing
freedom of speech slowly slip away partly due to a lack of economic security,
Vučinić had the idea of creating an organization that would provide independent
media with access to capital. The idea was pitched to George Soros, who
provided the initial grant for MDIF's start-up.