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Microsoft The Internet Communications Earth Network Wireless Networking

Microsoft Plans To Bring Internet Access To 40 Million People By 2022 32

Almost 30 years after the World Wide Web was first invented, there are still billions of people that don't have access to any sort of internet connectivity. Microsoft wants to change that by using its 2017 Airband Initiative to streamline efforts to build out internet access across Africa, Latin America and Asia. "Moving forward, the company plans to connect 40 million people across the world to the internet by 2022," reports Engadget. From the report: Initially, Microsoft will focus on rural and remote communities in Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa, with other regions to follow. The company adds that it plans to employ a four-part approach that will focus on working with local ISPs and communities to build out affordable and reliable internet access. Microsoft is pushing regulators for access to TV White Space (TVWS), which are wireless frequencies that can be repurposed to deliver internet access across a wide area. Microsoft is also working to build out internet access in rural communities across the U.S. The company currently aims to bring high-speed internet access to more than 9 million people in Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas.
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Microsoft Plans To Bring Internet Access To 40 Million People By 2022

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  • by fred911 ( 83970 ) on Tuesday October 08, 2019 @09:23PM (#59286350) Journal

    are no mystery. They're just unused bandwidth in the 600mhz range. Unused channels are allocated for various unlicensed usages but there are certain specifications for operations. Here's the part 15 rule change.

    https://www.fcc.gov/document/a... [fcc.gov]

    Read what MS is actually requesting from the FCC here;
    https://docs.fcc.gov/public/at... [fcc.gov]

  • Microsoft wants to change that by using its 2017 Airband Initiative ...

    "Air Guitar sold separately."

  • Microsoft is pushing regulators for access to TV White Space (TVWS)

    Fox "News" -- or is that the TV Blonde Space? :-)

  • The company could be force to stop offering internet to region....
  • poor people scam more... I would if living in a 3rd world country... what else can u do.
  • Isn't wonderful that Micro$oft can gouge US corporations (while licensing Micro$shat in China for $1) with ever increasing prices to grow networks in 3rd world countries who will use this connectivity to drive down prices and WAGES for American worker without their governments giving a dime?
    so altruistic.
    Ya, let's pepper a few under served US locations then and the bones to Comcast so prairie people can be robbed too.....
    • Americans are irrelevant. Now piss off and stop making a tit of yourself.
      • Ya, we're irrelevant... till we invent something that changes the world, some other country wants money from us, or wants us to defend their homeland... ya, irrelevant.
  • Elon Musk / Tony Stark / Iron Man is working on bringing internet to absolutely everyone on the planet via satellite by 2024 for about $75 / mo. Those poor countries that want to subsidize internet for their people can then do it much cheaper by simply paying Elon, rather than the costs of construction of cell towers and fiber lines and so forth over their land and paying forever to maintain it while still not penetrating the population 100%.

  • by coofercat ( 719737 ) on Wednesday October 09, 2019 @07:05AM (#59287112) Homepage Journal

    Isn't this their third attempt at this?

    First it was the Microsoft Network - it was going to be awesome, you'd dial up to it and get all the possible content you could imagine from them. There was no way you'd need the Internet if Microsoft provided it to you instead. Despite years of pushing it Microsoft-style to the world, the world said no and used the Internet. "MSN" became a website that most people ignored.

    Then they thought, if it's the Internet you want, we can provide it to you. Bill Gates was still at the helm and planned a constellation of loads of LEO satellites which would somehow beam the Internet to the whole world and once again, we'd all be pleased to use it in place of whatever other solution was available at the time. Cheap broadband and expensive launches essentially put that plan to bed, but not before he'd talked about it dunno how many times. Various space people were concerned that having so many satellites in LEO could mean a 'space junk' hit would cause a chain reaction, making LEO a dangerous place for generations to come.

    And now this... Somewhat less over-bearing than the previous two attempts, but right in there with Facebook and Google's plans to "liberate the masses". Oh I can't wait...

  • Africa, Latin America and Asia

    In the meantime rural USA is still completely fucked.

    • by DogDude ( 805747 )
      In the meantime rural USA is still completely fucked.

      To be fair, they've fucked themselves. I'd be thrilled if Internet access was a public utility. I'd be happy to pay more in taxes to pay for it, because it would benefit everybody. Rural USA are the ones that hate the government (except when it sends the farmers cash, or pays for their Social Security, or pays for their Medicare, or pays for their roads, or pays for their food stamps, etc.) and keep voting against Internet regulation.
    • TBF, it's hard to fix all of the third world countries.

    • by Agripa ( 139780 )

      Africa, Latin America and Asia

      In the meantime rural USA is still completely fucked.

      The urban and suburban USA are also fucked.

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

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