Meta shuts down Connectivity division after decade-long journey

Social media platform Meta is shutting down its Connectivity arm, company officials confirmed to Light Reading. Launched in 2013, Meta’s Connectivity handled the company’s experimental internet and telecom projects. It was around the same time when there were attempts being made at subsidising internet connections in developing countries like India. 

 As per reports, the Connectivity team will now be split across its Infrastructure and Central Products team. The former head of Meta Connectivity, Dan Rabinovitsj, is still with Meta but his future in the company is unclear. 

That said, this shutdown is not expected to affect Meta’s part in the Telecom Infra Project, an engineered-focussed initiative founded by the company in 2016 for innovation in telecom networks.

Some of Connectivity’s prominent projects include developing solar-powered drones and low-Earth orbit satellites to make the social media platform accessible to more users. Just last year, Meta’s Connectivity arm released an update on its strategy. The company gave briefings on the deployment of subsea cables and advancements in robots that could lay fiber strands along power lines. The company also said that Connectivity’s work since 2013 helped in providing faster internet connection to over 300 million people.

Connectivity’s shutdown comes at a time Meta is facing major losses. The company’s ambitious Meta Reality Labs division lost $9.4 billion in the first nine months of the year. The company’s money-losing spree is expected to continue in 2023 too. Further, the company announced laying off 11,000 employees. CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a blog that he became overoptimistic regarding the company’s growth based on its surge during the pandemic.