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Facebook and Qualcomm aim to bring mega-fast Wi-Fi to urban areas

The two companies are working together on Facebook's millimeter-wave Terragraph tech.

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Katie Collins Senior European Correspondent
Katie a UK-based news reporter and features writer. Officially, she is CNET's European correspondent, covering tech policy and Big Tech in the EU and UK. Unofficially, she serves as CNET's Taylor Swift correspondent. You can also find her writing about tech for good, ethics and human rights, the climate crisis, robots, travel and digital culture. She was once described a "living synth" by London's Evening Standard for having a microchip injected into her hand.
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Katie Collins
facebook-terragraph

Facebook's Terragraph tech.

 Facebook

Facebook and Qualcomm are teaming up to bring super-fast Wi-Fi to built-up urban areas, the two companies announced  Monday.

Qualcomm said it will integrate Facebook's Terragraph technology, which uses high-frequency radio waves to speed up networks where populations are dense, into its upcoming chipsets. Terragraph is a millimeter-wavelength, 60GHz wireless system that serves as an alternative when laying fiber becomes impossible or too expensive.

"With Terragraph, our goal is to enable people living in urban areas to access high-quality connectivity that can help create new opportunities and strengthen communities," said Yael Maguire, vice president of connectivity at Facebook.

The two companies said they expect to begin trials of the technology in mid-2019.

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