Project Loon is to be scrapped. The nine year-old Google project to beam internet from balloons is being closed down in the face of little interest from go
Alphabet has announced that it is shutting down its balloon-powered mobile Internet service, Loon in Kenya.
The project was launched in Kenya in 2018 in partnership with Telkom Kenya and sought to enable internet access to remote areas where setting up the traditional infrastructure is difficult or economically unviable. By last year, the project had however not kicked off over regulatory issues.
ICT Cabinet Secretary Joe Mucheru cited the laggard nature of Kenya’s bureaucracy process as the major hindrance.
The ambitious project, however, went live in July last year. The project was given a green light by the government in March after schools shutdown and movement was restricted in and out of Kenya’s capital, Nairobi due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Telkom Kenya executives use the Loon service for the first time in Radad, Kenya
Telkom Kenya will forge ahead with plans to scale up to 80 per cent of its userbase to 4G, after its partner, Loon LLC, called it quits last week. Loon was inevitably shut down after failing to create a long-term, sustainable business, Alastair Westgarth, Loon’s CEO said.
Telkom Kenya’s partnership with Alphabet’s Loon enabled the company to beam 4G signals to users in under-served or uncovered remote areas that are hard to reach or could cost more to set up the traditional network infrastructure.
Alphabet pulls the plug on its internet balloon company, Apple is reportedly developing a new MacBook Air and Google threatens to pull out of Australia. This is your Daily Crunch for January 22, 2021. The big story: Alphabet shuts down Loon Alphabet announced that it’s shutting down Loon, the project that used balloons to bring […]