Google is spending around $2 billion on satellites to bring Internet access to remote regions of the world, according to reports.
While some details are murky, unnamed sources said that Google will soon start with 180 small satellites orbiting the earth at a lower altitude, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The whole project is being run by Greg Wyler, founder of satellite startup O3b Networks, and Google is currently hiring engineers from Space Systems/Loral for the project. The project's price is estimated between "$1 billion to more than $3 billion" depending on the network's final details, but most assume that costs will be higher rather than lower.
Google is attempting to give the entirety of the world Internet access, but underneath this humanitarian endeavor is a commercial one. No matter the manner -- be it balloons, drones or satellites -- by giving those without Internet access the Web, Google (as well as Facebook) are giving themselves new customers. (Google is also reportedly buying Titan Aerospace, a startup that makes high-altitude drones, so it can capture and collect remote images.)
U.S. & World
News from around the country and around the globe