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

Google gears up Project Loon balloons for Indonesia Internet swarm

By

google project loon indonesia balloon
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Alphabet, the parent holding company of Google, is launching Project Loon in Indonesia next year. The three largest wireless carriers in the country plan to support the Internet balloon project, which may be able to beam wireless Internet to millions of people unreachable through traditional cell towers and fiber-optic cables.

Indonesia is the fourth most populated country on the planet, but the country is split into over 17,000 islands, making it hard for services to reach everyone. Two-thirds of the populations still lack Internet access.

Recommended Videos

Project Loon originally tried to offer Internet through its own Wi-Fi service, but the plan was repealed by telecoms. Now, the project works with telecoms to branch out Internet access to remote areas. Alphabet is working with the telecoms to make sure Project Loon doesn’t override carrier services in places where a strong connection can be established.

Indonesian telecom providers are still apprehensive about Project Loon, and have reportedly not discussed payment terms with the search giant. Alphabet might offer very cheap access to the balloons to win over the wireless providers at first, with the goal of winning over other telecoms in the future.

Project Loon has seen a host of improvements since the original announcement in 2013, including accuracy, travel speed, time in the air, and wireless range. Even with all of those improvements, Alphabet still has a dedicated team on hand to capture rogue balloons. Everything from bursts to the wind brushing the balloon off course is handled by the team.

Alphabet’s project might be the most exciting, but it is not the only project trying to push Internet access in Southeast Asia. Facebook has a solar drone plan that will beam free Internet, SpaceX wants to launch a constellation of low-orbit satellites, and Qualcomm backed another low-orbit satellite startup.

The hope for Alphabet is these satellite and drone projects cost a lot more and take longer than Project Loon, but Alphabet has invested $1 billion into SpaceX to be a partner on its constellation, just in case Loon doesn’t work out.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
David Curry
David Curry
Former Digital Trends Contributor
David has been writing about technology for several years, following the latest trends and covering the largest events. He is…
Google’s Project Starline is a magic mirror to bring 3D video chatting to life
google project starline io 2021 news 3d

Most of us have imagined a future when we can view holographic images of people in three dimensions. You know, where you push a button and your loved one pops up in your living room? At Google I/O 2021, we realized the dream of viewing a model of our loved ones in person might just be closer than we think. Google’s Project Starline is working to make it possible for you to view a life-sized 3D model of a family member or friend when communicating with them, therefore enhancing personal interaction and mimicking the experience you get when talking to someone face-to-face.

To use Project Starline, users sit at a desk that almost resembles a vanity, as it's surrounded by lights and it has a mirror-like window in front of the user. As the user and the guest chat back and forth, the person on the opposite end looks like they're actually sitting at the table. However, it's really a virtual representation created by lights and compressed data. Google describes the experience you get when using Project Starline as though you’re “looking through a sort of magic window, and through that window, you see another person, life-size and in three dimensions. You can talk naturally, gesture, and make eye contact.”

Read more
Google Stadia vs. xCloud
google stadia vs nvidia geforce now controller 3

It’s 2021 and playing video games no longer requires you to pop in a disc. Instead, we now have digital downloads and, more recently, game-streaming services that let you instantly begin playing the latest titles without having to install anything.

Two of the biggest game-streaming services are Google Stadia and Microsoft’s Xbox Cloud Gaming, formerly called Project xCloud or just xCloud. Both promise unprecedented freedom and ease of use for players, but they also have their drawbacks.

Read more
Google parent firm pops Loon balloon internet project
google launches project loon in sri lanka balloon

Alphabet is ending its Loon initiative that used high-altitude balloons to provide internet connectivity to remote locations and places hit by disasters.

Loon CEO Alastair Westgarth broke the news in an online message posted on Thursday, January 21.

Read more