Facebook aims to develop Telecom Network Infrastructure

At the 2016 Mobile World Congress, Facebook announced its Telecom Infra Project (TIP), an engineering initiative aimed at developing new technologies and approaches to building and deploying telecom network infrastructure.

According to Jay Parikh, Facebook’s global head of engineering and infrastructure, TIP will bring together telecommunications companies, infrastructure providers, system integrator and other technology companies.  

In essence, the company wants to become a provider hub of globally shared content. People and devices are coming online in increasing numbers around the world, making it easier to share data – intensive experiences such as video and virtual reality, parikh said. However, the industry has been too slow in scaling traditional telecom infrastructure to meet the global data challenge.

TIP’s task will be to enable telecom operators and the broader telecom industry to be more flexible, innovative and efficient in order to expand connectivity, according to parkih. It is tied into Facebook’s other connectivity already underway through internet.org.