Tech

Facebook is trying to blow up another huge market as it attempts to connect the entire world

By Jillian D'Onfro and Rob Price
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Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.  Stephen Lam/Reuters

Facebook wants to connect the world.

That's why it formed Internet.org, which offers free access to parts of the internet in the developing world — including its "Free Basics" data system, which the Indian government just shut down.

And it's why the social-networking giant is now launching the Telecom Infra Project, an ambitious new scheme to redesign telecoms infrastructure.

Traditional infrastructure is having to deal with unprecedented traffic; more video is being streamed than ever before as more people get online. Virtual reality media — an area in which Facebook is investing heavily — will only exacerbate the load in years to come.

"Every day, more people and more devices around the world are coming online, and it's becoming easier to share data-intensive experiences like video and virtual reality," Jay Parikh, Facebook's global head of engineering and infrastructure, wrote in a blog post. "Scaling traditional telecom infrastructure to meet this global data challenge is not moving as fast as people need it to."

Facebook has previously had success with the Open Compute Project, an effort to open-source data centres. TIP will work in a similar fashion in that it will open up plans for network infrastructure. The company is teaming up with companies like Intel and Nokia to work on this.

Facebook connectivity initiatives
Facebook
TIP focus areas
Facebook
TIP
Facebook

Check out the project's official site here »

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Jillian DOnfro headshot
Jillian D'Onfro
Jillian was most recently an enterprise technology editor based in San Francisco.  She started at Insider as an intern on the technology desk in 2013 and rose to a senior reporter position, covering Alphabet, Facebook, and ecommerce. After three years at the site, she left to spend time freelance writing abroad, before taking reporting positions at CNBC and then at Forbes, where she covered Alphabet, Silicon Valley culture, and artificial intelligence. She returned to Insider in March 2020 and worked on the enterprise technology desk until August 2021.  Jillian graduated from Syracuse University's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications with a degree in magazine journalism and information management and technology.
Reporter Rob Price sitting at a table
Rob Price
Rob Price was a senior correspondent at Business Insider, based in San Francisco. He wrote investigations and long-form features about platforms, people, and power in Silicon Valley.His stories variously led to attorney general investigations, large-scale internal reviews at major tech companies, high-profile personnel departures, citation by state and federal lawmakers, and the closure of a well-funded startup. His 2022 story on the Bitfinex hack is being adapted into a feature film, and in 2024 he received an SPJ NorCal Excellence in Journalism award for his reporting on AI and relationships.Rob's scoops and exclusive stories were cited by The New York Times, Bloomberg, the BBC, Associated Press, Reuters, CNBC, Politico, The Guardian, Axios, and many other national and international publications. His writing has also been published in or syndicated by The Washington Post, The Independent, Vice, Slate, and elsewhere, and he appeared on CNN, the BBC, CBS, Reuters, ABC Australia, and other broadcast media to discuss technology, business, and culture.He worked for Business Insider from 2015 to 2025. Prior to joining the features team, Rob covered Facebook and Silicon Valley, and before that wrote about tech business, policy, and the gig economy in London. Between September and October 2019, he was acting executive editor for Business Insider's UK bureau. He also sat on the board of directors for the San Francisco Press Club, the leading non-profit media advocacy group in the Bay Area, and was a volunteer crew member at the Marine Mammal Center, the world's largest animal hospital for marine mammals. You can contact Rob Price via email at robaeprice@gmail.com, or +1 650-636-6268 (Signal / WhatsApp / Cell). Selected stories:— They spoke out against their employer. Then they were hit with trade secrets suits.— The rise of 'shadow stand-ins'— App, Lover, Muse: Inside a 47-year-old Minnesota man's three-year relationship with an AI chatbot— Deel Speed: The inside story of a $12 billion HR startup's breakneck growth— Private islands, flying cars, and psychedelic parties: Inside the wild post-Google lives of Larry Page and Sergey Brin— 'I want your Instagram account': First came the threatening texts, followed by the SWAT teams. Then someone wound up dead.— Inside Iconiq: How Mark Zuckerberg's banker built a secret Silicon Valley empire and made billions— Gaia was a wildly popular yoga brand. Now it's a publicly traded Netflix rival pushing conspiracy theories while employees fear the CEO is invading their dreams— A drunken late-night assault allegation has roiled the secretive world of Mark Zuckerberg's private family office. Personal aides are speaking out about claims that household staff endured sexual harassment and racism from their colleagues.
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