Facebook announced it is teaming with French communications company Eutelsat in a partnership to beam the Internet down to Africa from a satellite.

The two companies are working together in a multi-year agreement with Israeli satellite communications firm Spacecom to buy up the entire broadband capability of the AMOS-6 satellite. It will allow Facebook and Eutelsat to beam Internet connectivity to more than 14 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Eutelsat Communications said the satellite Internet plan is due to be activated in the second half of 2016, adding it had identified "pent-up demand for connectivity" in the regions of Africa it plans to connect, which are often lacking in the infrastructure for access to reliable fixed or mobile networks.

"Satellite networks are well suited to economically connecting people in low- to medium-density population areas," the company stated.

How It Works

Of course, a satellite cannot beam Internet signals directly to these regions without hardware on the ground to receive it.

So according to an ComputerWorld, the plan on the ground is use terminals with antennas about the size and shape of the average consumer satellite TV dish, each about two and a half feet in diameter.

Those terminals will be linked via the AMOS-6 satellite to dedicated Internet gateways in France, Italy, and Israel. The AMOS-6 carries 36 Ka-band transponders, 24 of which could be used at the same time to beam the Internet. For better performance, Facebook and Eutelsat intend to use only 18.

Who Pays?

The $200 million satellite is scheduled for launch by the end of this year, and it will also deliver TV service to parts of Europe and the Middle East.