Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Mobile
  3. News

Google to deploy Project Loon balloons to Puerto Rico to restore cell service

By

googe parent alphabet to deploy loon ballons over puerto rico
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Wired has reported that the Federal Communications Commission has given Google’s parent company Alphabet Inc. clearance to deploy its Project Loon balloons over Puerto Rico. The company is hopeful that the balloons will be able to restore telecommunications service to the hurricane-ravaged island.

The decision was announced in a series of tweets by Matthew Berry, who serves as Chief of Staff to FCC chairman Ajit Pai.

Recommended Videos

Alphabet has already successfully deployed its Project Loon balloons over Peru, where they were able to provide LTE coverage following the country’s recent flood. The balloons were able to rely on a telecom provider that beamed its signal to the balloons. The company will be working from scratch in Puerto Rico, but the hope is that the balloons will be able to help restore cell service, including LTE data, to the island’s inhabitants.

The balloons will act as replacements for the island’s destroyed cell towers, but they can only transmit the data. It is unclear if the island’s telecommunications industry currently has the means to assist Alphabet, but the industry is willing to try. In its FCC application, Alphabet included letters and emails from eight of the island’s carriers, in which they gave consent for Google to access their frequencies and data.

Thirty Loon balloons will be deployed 20 kilometers (about 12 miles) above the planet’s service. Each balloon will be able to service a radius of 1,930 square miles, so Alphabet is expecting that it will be able to provide service to the entire island of Puerto Rico, along with parts of the Virgin Islands.

Alphabet has not said when the deployment would begin, but a spokesperson told Wired that “we sorting through a lot of possible options now and are grateful for the support we’re getting on the ground.”

Alphabet isn’t the only tech company coming to the aid of Puerto Rico. The island’s governor has requested that Tesla CEO Elon Musk help restore the island’s electrical grid. The company has already deployed hundreds of power wall batteries to the island.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Eric Brackett
Eric Brackett
Former Digital Trends Contributor
AT&T just made it a lot easier to upgrade your phone
AT&T Storefront with logo.

Do you want to upgrade your phone more than once a year? What about three times a year? Are you on AT&T? If you answered yes to those questions, then AT&T’s new “Next Up Anytime” early upgrade program is made for you. With this add-on, you’ll be able to upgrade your phone three times a year for just $10 extra every month. It will be available starting July 16.

Currently, AT&T has its “Next Up” add-on, which has been available for the past several years. This program costs $6 extra per month and lets you upgrade by trading in your existing phone after at least half of it is paid off. But the new Next Up Anytime option gives you some more flexibility.

Read more
Motorola is selling unlocked smartphones for just $150 today
Someone holding the Moto G Stylus 5G (2024).

Have you been looking for phone deals but don’t want to spend a ton of money on flagship devices from Apple and Samsung? Have you ever considered investing in an unlocked Motorola? For a limited time, the company is offering a $100 markdown on the Motorola Moto G 5G. It can be yours for just $150, and your days and nights of phone-shopping will finally be over!

Why you should buy the Motorola Moto G 5G
Powered by the Snapdragon 480+ 5G CPU and 4GB of RAM, the Moto G delivers exceptional performance across the board. From UI navigation to apps, games, and camera functions, you can expect fast load times, next to no buffering, and smooth animations. You’ll also get up to 128GB of internal storage that you’ll be able to use for photos, videos, music, and any other mobile content you can store locally. 

Read more
The Nokia 3210 is the worst phone I’ve used in 2024
A person holding the Nokia 3210, showing the screen.

Where do I even start with the Nokia 3210? Not the original, which was one of the coolest phones to own back in a time when Star Wars: Episode 1 -- The Phantom Menace wasn’t even a thing, but the latest 2024 reissue that has come along to save us all from digital overload, the horror of social media, and the endless distraction that is the modern smartphone.

Except behind this facade of marketing-friendly do-goodery hides a weapon of torture, a device so foul that I’d rather sit through multiple showings of Jar Jar Binks and the gang hopelessly trying to bring back the magic of A New Hope than use it.
The Nokia 3210 really is that bad

Read more