Google’s Loon balloons now offer commercial internet access in Kenya

Google’s Loon balloons now offer commercial internet access in Kenya

Gulf Business

Wednesday 08 July 2020

Loon has collaborated with Telekom Kenya subscribers to provide internet connectivity by way of 35 balloons covering an area of 50,000 square kilometres. Image courtesy: MENA Tech

Google's Loon balloons aims to connect some of the most remote regions in the world to the internet. It has recently rolled out a new commercial service for the very first time in Africa.

Loon's CEO Alister Westgarth said that 4G LTE connection is available to Telekom Kenya subscribers by way of 35 balloons covering an area of 50,000 square kilometres in the central and western regions of the country, including the capital Nairobi.

Google's Loon project started out as a revolutionary idea in X labs in 2013 , before it turned into a private company under the umbrella of Alphabet in 2018.

This is not the first time that the new technology to provide high-speed internet via balloons has been employed. The company's balloons provided internet connectivity to Puerto Rico in 2017 and Peru in 2019, following natural disasters in those regions.

However, this is the first time that it has made the service available on a commercial large-scale basis.

Google said that it tested the Loon balloons in Kenya over the past few