Zuckerberg undecided when to let his daughter online -- but everyone else is welcome - CNET

Free Basics has so far been deployed in 38 countries and will continue to operate in those areas. Zuckerberg claims that the service has already got 19 million people onto the Inteet and that 50 percent of people who use it become paying customers within the first month.

This year Facebook will press ahead with beaming Inteet to Africa by satellite and also crafting network-casting, solar-powered drones that can stay in the sky for three to six months at time. These aren't toy-store drones. The company is building its second full-scale aircraft, which has the wingspan of a 747 and weighs about as much as a car. Facebook hopes to have the first of the planes in the sky within 18 months.

The company also is building is a laser communication system, given that with a laser you can get a much higher-bandwidth signal. The challenge is accuracy. "It's equivalent to basically shooting a laser pointer from Califoia to a quarter on the tip of the Statue of Liberty in New York," Zuckerberg said.

As for India, Facebook will continue to work there, but through other projects. "Facebook isn't a company that hits a roadblock and gives up," he said. "We take the hits from there and try to do better."

Zuckerberg on...

Oculus and VR: Zuckerberg, whose company two years ago bought the hotshot virtual reality specialist Oculus VR for $2 billion, said his mother captured his first steps by describing the moment in a baby book. When it's his daughter's tu to start walking, he has grander plans. "What I hope to do is capture the whole scene with a 360 camera," he said.

5G: Zuckerberg expressed his disappointment that where 4G wireless connectivity was about giving people a good Inteet experience, the discussions around next-generation 5G -- a hot topic at Mobile World Congress this year -- are all about connecting things. When carriers roll out the speedier broadband, the tech world also will need to "finish the job of making sure everyone in the world has access to the Inteet," Zuckerberg said.

Philanthropy: In December, Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, said they plan to establish the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, a good-works organization that will receive 99 percent of the CEO's Facebook shares, at the time worth about $45 billion. "A lot of people think that companies don't care about anything other than making money," he said Monday. "People rarely take you at face value at this, but we really want to get people onto the Inteet."