Facebook has reportedly given up on a project to launch an Internet-delivering satellite into orbit, according to a report in The Information.

Amir Efrati writes that the previously unknown project (outside of Facebook) would have set the social media giant back a whopping $500 million. Admittedly that’s only half what Facebook paid to get its hands on Instagram, but nevertheless Mark Zuckerberg and co. have decided the cost is simply too prohibitive for a scheme that’s meant to deliver low-cost Internet access to less developed parts of the world.

While the satellite project was hitherto unknown, Facebook’s ambitions to expand Internet access in emerging markets have been better publicized. The company launched its Internet.org initiative two years ago, and that effort involves mulitiple companies working together to subsidize data costs in some countries.

That’s not to say Internet.org is the only way Facebook is plotting its expansion (that is, after all, what the it’s all about). Last week the company introduced Facebook Lite to Asian markets, a lightweight Android app that’s easier to connect with when users live in low bandwidth areas. The satellite project was also apparently unrelated to Internet.org too, even though Zuckerberg has previously discussed the idea in relation to that initiative.

Amir Efrati bases his report on “a person with direct knowledge of the satellite project”, and a second source who claims to have been briefed about it. The idea was to launch a geostationary satellite that would have provided web access to “dozens of countries”. However, while Facebook won’t be launching its own satellite any time soon, it hasn’t dismissed the idea of leasing a satellite from someone else.

Facebook’s efforts to bring Internet connectivity to the under-developed world are certainly beneficial, and will surely transform the regions it targets, but the company has a clear incentive to do so. The social network has grown to the point where it simply can’t get any bigger in more developed countries, and by providing the required infrastructure for people to access the web, it’s sure to get first access to billions of previously unconnected people.

Image credit: tpsdave via pixabay.com