On Monday, Google bought Titan Aerospace, developer of solar-powered drones that may purportedly fly uninterrupted for years. It's yet another move in the ongoing race between Google and Facebook to build (and control) the next big expansion of the internet -- in developing countries.

The Wall Street Journal first reported the acquisition of Titan Aerospace by the internet giant, after months of rumors that Facebook was in talks to buy the company for as much as $60 million.

Google didn't disclose the amount it took to get the New Mexico-based drone company on board, but Google purportedly offered to top any offer from Facebook, according to the WSJ's unnamed sources. But now we know why Facebook went ahead and bought U.K. solar drone startup Ascenta for $20 million late last month.

While device manufacturers are shifting to meet the particular demands of Latin American markets, and relative startups like Firefox OS are partnering with Latin American telecoms to try to get a foot in the door of the next big internet boom, internet penetration in Latin American countries still remains generally low -- and in the case of some countries like Venezuela, controversial and at the mercy of the government.

For Google and Facebook, wireless internet delivery from the stratosphere has the advantages of not needing much of public infrastructure in place to work, and not needing to push (or work with) governments to develop that infrastructure in order to deliver the internet. But don't expect Google and Facebook internet-drones hovering around the world any time soon. Both companies are placing long-term bets on internet expansion and hooking new customers to their particular service, but both companies have a lot of technical problems to conquer before its close to a reality.

Still, imagine a future where Facebook and Google -- once a simple social networking site and an internet search engine, respectively -- are two competing giants with entire swaths of the Earth hooked up to their particular internet, aloft on balloons, satellites, and/or UAVs. It might someday be the case.

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