Othernet's stated goal is to provide free access to content from the web through geostationary and low Earth orbit satellites, made available effectively to all parts of the world.
In 2015, Outernet (now Othernet) also launched an IndieGogo campaign, which raised $697,552 to finance the development of the Lantern receiver[2] which was never completed and delivered to backers.
[7] Requests to NASA to use the International Space Station to test their technology were declined in June 2014 due to, as stated by a letter sent by the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) to the staff working for Othernet, both inaccuracies within the proposition, such as "it is assumed that the NanoLab housing will be provided by the CASIS program outside the budget", and costs ranging from US$150,000 to $175,000.
"[9] The purpose of the Lantern, as stated by Othernet, is to provide free access to the media archive, weather, news, and other resources, through Outernet, in high traffic public locations, such as schools.
[11] The current Outernet/Othernet system which is a series of hardware testing versions currently codenamed Dreamcatcher of the eventual final Lantern is using the Ku-band with a LNB which interfaces with and is decoded by a LoRa circuit on the ARM architecture based receiver board which downloads to update the onboard stored content and resources from the satellite at 20 kbit/s,[12] this constantly updating content cache is accessible by connecting to the Othernet receiver's Wi-Fi using Wi-Fi equipped devices and viewed using that device's web browser and not requiring any special app.
[14] The Othernet project is raising funds to expand globally, in order to reach third world countries or populations lacking basic access to the Internet.
Many fears exist over whether "the major telecom companies worldwide will fight the plans for space-based broadcasting of information readily available on the Internet.
"[18] A BBC News report summarized Karim's TEDGlobal talk, observing that illiteracy will be a limiting factor for rural adoption.