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Battle for control of Earth's unconnected souls moves to SPAAAACE

Get ready for tech giants signing satellite deals with Boeing

Tech giants such as Google, Facebook and Amazon could sign deals with Boeing for high-throughput satellites in order to reach internet-less regions this year, as part of the data movers' respective bids for world domination, according to a report.

Jim Simpson, vice president of business development and chief strategist for Boeing Network and Space Systems, told Reuters yesterday that the companies were among some of the big firms keen to expand internet access around the world to help them grow.

He said: "The real key to being able to do these type of things is ultra-high-throughput capabilities, where we’re looking at providing gigabytes, terabytes, petabytes of capability," Simpson told Reuters after a panel at the Satellite 2015 conference.

According to its annual report, Boeing will launch the first high-throughput satellite this year, as part of its contract to build a fleet of nine communications satellites for voice, data, and internet satellite provider Intelsat to increase its capacity.

Tech companies have made no secret of their desire to to tap into the global internet market. According to a report from the McKinsey and Company consultancy, 4.4 billion people (from a population of 7 billion) remain offline.

At Mobile World Congress this month, Google said its solar-powered drones will be carrying radio kit over internet-less communities within a matter of months

SpaceX has also said it plans to build a system of 4,000 satellites in low Earth orbit for global net connectivity. ®

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