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Alphabet to Deploy Loon Internet Balloons in Kenya's Skies in 2019

posted by martyb on Monday July 23 2018, @12:21AM   
from the successful-rollout-is-still-up-in-the-air dept.

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

Alphabet's Loon project said Thursday that its balloons will bring internet to remote parts of Kenya next year.

This'll be the project's first deal in Africa, Reuters reports, and it'll see Loon working with Telkom Kenya to get high-speed internet to the East African country's rural and suburban populations.

Loon became its own company only last week -- having started in 2016 as a project at X, Google parent Alphabet's research-and-development facility. It uses high-flying balloons powered by on-board solar panels as Wi-Fi carriers to deliver signals from above.

The balloons float at 60,000 feet (20 km) above sea level -- high over air traffic, wildlife and weather events.

[...] Last year, Alphabet teamed with AT&T to bring limited internet access to storm-ravaged Puerto Rico.

-- submitted from IRC

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Original Submission

• Re:One way internet? Re:One way internet? (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 23 2018, @01:55AM (1 child)

  by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 23 2018, @01:55AM (#711007)

  Let me follow the links in the article for you.

  Telecommunication companies partnering with the tech company share their cellular spectrum, giving people on the ground the chance to connect to the balloon network from their wireless, LTE-enabled devices. This cellular signal passes along the balloon network and then is transmitted back down to users below, according to the project's website.

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• Re:One way internet? (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 23 2018, @02:03AM

  by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 23 2018, @02:03AM (#711010)

  CBS News [cbsnews.com]

  Parent