Press release
Microsoft and Viasat announce new partnership to deliver internet access to underserved communities globally
New collaboration through the Microsoft Airband Initiative will increase internet availability for 5 million people across Africa and an additional 5 million
About this update from Viasat, Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":"New collaboration through the Microsoft Airband Initiative will increase internet availability for 5 million people across Africa and an additional 5 million people around the world by the end of 2025\nREDMOND, Wash., Dec. 14, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- On Wednesday, Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Viasat (NASDAQ: VSAT) announced a new partnership to help deliver internet access to 10 million people around the globe, including 5 million across Africa. Viasat, a global communications company, is the first satellite partner to work with Microsoft's Airband Initiative, and together they will deepen Airband's work in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, Guatemala, Mexico, and the United States, as well as prioritize expanding the program to Egypt, Senegal and Angola to deliver much-needed internet connection, often for the first time.\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n\n \nThis first of its kind global partnership for Airband is an important step in reaching the Initiative's expanded goal of delivering internet access to a quarter of a billion people across the world, including 100 million people on the continent of Africa, by the end of 2025. \nAccording to the International Telecommunication Union at the UN, roughly one third of the world's population — or 2.7 billion people — have still never used the internet. Satellite allows internet access to reach remote areas that previously have had few, if any, options for conventional connectivity. Working together, the companies will combine expertise and assets to help enable telehealth, distance learning and education, precision agriculture, clean power, and other services to reach new areas through the transformational provision of power and connectivity. The companies will collaborate to provide and pilot technologies including, but not limited to, satellites (both geostationary orbit and low earth orbit) and fixed wireless.\n\"We believe access to the internet is a fundamental right and that digital skills create and enable economic prosperity for people, businesses and governments. Through our Airband Initiative we will extend high-speed internet access to 100 million people on the continent of Africa and to a quarter of a billion people living in unserved and underserved areas across the world by 2025,\" said Teresa Hutson, Microsoft's vice president of Technology and Corporate Respons...