Facebook scraps plans to build drone to deliver internet access

Facebook will not build its own aircraft due to aerospace companies' competition

Facebook is scrapping its plans to build a high-altitude solar-powered drone that would have delivered internet access to the developing world.

The drone, named Aquila by the company, was initially created by British aerospace engineer Andrew Cox, whose company Ascenta was acquired by Facebook in 2014 for $20m (15m). It was folded into Facebook's Internet.org project, which had a stated goal of "connecting the whole world", and was intended to be used to fly at a higher altitude than commercial planes, relaying laser-based internet signals down to base-stations on the ground.