Kenya starts the Internet on airships on technology of Google

2020: Google Loon began to provide commercial Internet access in Kenya

The fleet of high-rise aerostats began to provide Internet services in Kenya on July 7, 2020, having expanded online access for tens of thousands of people within the first in the history of commercial application of this technology.

Balloons which soar at the height about 20 kilometers in a stratosphere - are much higher than commercial airplanes - in the beginning will provide connection to network 4G LTE in the region nearly 31 thousand quarter of miles in the central and western Kenya, including the capital of the country of Nairobi.

On July 7, 2020 the network based on aerostats of Loon was brought into commercial operation

Loon, division of parent company Google Alphabet, started 35 balloons within preparation for start in recent months. The company cooperates with Telkom Kenya, the third largest operator in East To Africa.

Earlier balloons were used only in emergencies, for example, in Puerto Rico in 2017 after the hurricane "Maria" destroyed towers of cellular communication. Loon considers this service the cost-efficient solution of a difficult task of providing access in the Internet in the remote areas with the insufficient level of security with services. Providers of telecommunication services in other countries watch closely Kenyan experience to understand that the technology is reliable and whether there can be this service profitable.

The project startup became result of cooperation of Loon and Telkom Kenya

Some experts say that it is better to use aerostats in other places. In Kenya the big percent of citizens has Internet access, by estimates, 39 million from 48 million people that it is more, than in many other countries of the developing world. But leaders of Loon who opened service of balloons after two years of tests, said that they selected Kenya because of its openness for implementation of new technologies.

Kenya is the perfect place for us to begin a new era of stratospheric communications. The country was incredibly the innovation in search of new methods of connection of not having access to network of the population. As new, innovative technology, this is perfectly approaches Alastair Vestgart, chief executive of Loon

The balloons made of sheets of polyethylene have the sizes of tennis courts. They eat from solar batteries and are controlled the software from Earth. Being airborne, they act as "floating towers of cellular communication", giving Internet signals to ground stations and personal devices. They are in a stratosphere more than 100 days, and then return to Earth. Allowing telecommunication companies to expand the covering if necessary, balloons are intended to offer the countries cheaper option of access to network, than laying of cables or construction of towers of cellular communication.

This technology can be effective in Africa where a little more than 28 percent from 1.3 billion people could use the Internet in 2019 - the lowest indicator from all regions of the world - according to the International Telecommunication Union. And even in spite of the fact that more and more users are connected to the Internet, the cost of the Internet remains too high for many Africans.

The authorities of Kenya stated that balloons will help the country to save the competitive advantages in the field of technology innovations. During testing more than 35,000 users in Telkom network were connected to the Internet through Loon balloons. The users including living in the remote cities of Kenya used service for video streaming, viewing websites and implementation of video and voice calls in such applications as WhatsApp and Skype.

Heads of Loon do not announce the cost of the contract with Telkom or any financial arrangements.

Loon which is based in California and began the activity in 2011 is one of the so-called "flights to the Moon" which appeared in the research laboratory Alphabet known as Laboratory X. Loon was selected in separate company in 2018 as the viable project. Other companies which appeared from X include, for example, Waymo, the unmanned vehicle. Loon hopes to achieve success in Africa where one more American technical giant failed. Facebook carried out attempts to provide the Internet to remote parts of the continent using UAVs, but renounced this attempt after several failures. Critics called efforts the scheme of search of new users for the platform.

The Loon project in Kenya also sparked criticism from some parties. Some say that Loon and Telkom start service in those parts of the country where cellular networks already have a good covering instead of being guided on insufficiently serviced regions, such as North or northeast of Kenya. Others say that many people in poor or remote areas are not able to afford phones compatible to the service 4G provided to Loon.

I feel that this solution does not correspond to the solved problem. Most of Kenyans already have an Internet access - in many respects thanks to distribution of towers of cellular communication and fiber optic cables. Loon is the additional solution for places where connection on the last mile will be too expensive because areas are little populated. It not best solution for this market Fares Kariuki, chief executive of Node Africa

Others in Kenya welcomed this project, having said that stratospheric balloons supplement both land, and satellite technologies, helping to attract more people in network.

Loon is cheaper alternative to the project Starlink, so does not require creation of serious infrastructure for start

the coronavirus Pandemic also proves that communication is essential service which should be strengthened more than ever. I think that our present time "Covid-19" demands from us reconsideration of infrastructure, the main services, movement of people, data collection and communication. Any enterprise which can help to eliminate one more barrier can be of great importance. Answer to a question: Whether "Loon is realistic?". Well, we received it. Until we are able quickly to develop cellular towers and networks, we need an alternative, such as Loon