Facebook announced OpenCellular, which it described as “an open source wireless access platform to bring connectivity to remote areas of the world”.

“We designed OpenCellular as an open system so anyone — from telecom operators to researchers to entrepreneurs — can build and operate wireless networks in remote places. It’s about the size of a shoe box and can support up to 1,500 people from as far as 10 kilometers away,” Mark Zuckerberg wrote in a post.

Zuckerberg has previously talked about the need to connect users who are not currently served by telecoms networks, including a “disappointment” that with 5G the focus is on IoT and mobile broadband in developed markets.

OpenCellular is currently being tested in Facebook’s labs, and the company is working with partners to make it more widely available.

It also intends to work with the Telecom Infra Project members to build an “active open source community around cellular access technology development and to select trial locations for further validation of technical, functional and operation aspects of the platform”.

The new offering is said to “support a range of communications options, from a network in a box to an access point supporting everything from 2G to LTE”.

The intention is to open-source the hardware design, along with necessary firmware and control services, to enable “telecom operators, entrepreneurs, OEMs, and researchers” to locally build, implement, deploy and operate infrastructure based on the platform.

Threat
OpenCellular looks likely to be a threat to traditional cellular network vendors such as Ericsson, Huawei and Nokia.

Facebook said that one of the reasons the expansion of mobile networks has stalled is that “the ecosystem is constrained”. Traditional infrastructure can be expensive, making it difficult to solve “hyperlocal” connectivity challenges, and a goal of OpenCellular is to lower “civil and supporting” costs – land, towers, security, power and backhaul.

Features highlighted include its modular design; scalability for various population densities; low capex and opex; simplified installation and support; use of locally available infrastructure; and localised manufacturing and “lightweight” supply chain.

Zuckerberg said that OpenCellular sits alongside its “solar-powered aircraft Aquila and high-bandwidth laser beams” in enabling connectivity in remote regions.