Technology
The Loon balloons of Alphabet offer their first business Internet service in Kenya
Today Alphabet's Loon Division has launched a first commercial service in Kenya with the use of swimming ballons for the Internet. Loon CEO Alastair Westgarth announced in a news blog that the 4 G LTE service would be provided by a fleet of around 35 ballons covering an area of about 50,000sqm throughout western and central regions of the country, including its capital of Nairobi, which Telkom subscribers in Kenya would use.
This is an important step for Loon, who started as a moonshot project in the X division of Alphabet before it spread to his own business in 2018.
In the aftermath of disasters such as the 2017 post-Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, or Peru after an earthquake in 2019, the ballons have already provided internet connectivity, but never as part of large commercial deployments.
The firm claims that it has reached a downlink rate of 18.9 Mbps back in June with an uplink speed of 4.74 Mbps and a latency of 19ms. It has tested a range of services including e-mail, voice & video, etc., and that Loon has been testing its ballrooms in Kenya for several months, and that 35,000 single users are already connected to the internet, "although most have not known it.
The ballon companies (or the so called "flight vehicles") float at an elevation of approximately 20 kilometers and analyze the weather for stratosphere winds. Individual balls can alternate directly between Internet connectivity and mesh network connectivity. The New York Times notes that they remain 100 days in the air before returning to earth. Loon says that the goal of its balls is not the substitution of satellite connectivity or ground technology such as cell towers or fiber optic cables, but the offer of a third layer of connectivity that helps to connect more people with the internet worldwide.
But the Times reported that its balloons were launched in parts of the country that have already developed internet infrastructure. Some people in poorer areas of Kenya can not afford to connect to their 4 G service by phones.
Loon hopes that Internet connectivity will continue to be offered as part of further international commercial services. It also has a number of other pipeline projects. In addition, Telesat signed an agreement with Telesat to use its networking software for managing the company's low Earth orbit satellites this year via a partnership with Internet Para todos Perú. In preparation for the Internet services of its globes, it is finally partnered with AT&T in disaster-stricken areas and Vodacom to provide Mozambique with internet.
