Global social media networking space, Facebook,  has partnered with a French satellite operator Eutelsat Communications to provide free high-speed internet to Africa-based users by 2016, the firm announced on Monday.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg said in a statement he was “excited to announce our first project to deliver internet from space.”

“As part of our Internet.org efforts to connect the world, we’re partnering with Eutelsat to launch a satellite into orbit that will connect millions of people,” he added.

Facebook launched Internet.org two year ago, an effort to accelerate the rate of connectivity by addressing the physical, economic and social barriers that are keeping people from getting online.  The company  plans to work with local partners across Africa to utilize satellite and terrestrial capacity to deliver services to rural areas.

Africa is the fastest growth region for social media giant Facebook and increased use of smartphones is earning the social networking giant even more users on the continent.

According to a recent report, the number of active Facebook users on the continent jumped 20 percent to 120 million in the 12 months to September. Facebook said 80 percent of these users login through mobile phones, with 60 percent of all internet users in Africa being active on the social media platform.

It is no wonder some people in Nigeria think Facebook is the internet.

Facebook has spent billions of dollars exploring various ways to make internet accessible to the most interior places across the world.

“We are going to keep working to connect the entire world even if that means looking beyond our planet,” Zuckerberg said in a blog post.