Tech giant Google announced on Monday that it would be testing 20 high-altitude balloons in western Queensland next month that are capable of sending and receiving 4G-like signals. Melbourne-based newspaper The Age that the test is part of Google鈥檚 long-term initiative to bring Internet access to remote locations around the world.
It鈥檚 the latest announcement from an initiative called Project Loon, in 2013. If it comes to fruition, balloons will eventually circle the planet at twice the altitude of passenger jets, propelled by westerly stratospheric winds, picking up 4G-like signals from Web-connected base stations and transmitting them back to consumers鈥 phones and homes. On the ground, Project Loon鈥檚 support in Australia comes from Telstra, the country鈥檚 largest telecommunications company, which will share space on the radio spectrum and operate the solar-powered base stations the balloons use to communicate.
In 2014, an estimated two-thirds of the world鈥檚 population is without Internet access. For many communities that would like to be better connected, underground fiber cabling is prohibitively difficult or expensive. The idea of Project Loon is to override this gap in communication by allowing low-flying satellites to deliver Internet access to pretty much anyone, anywhere. highlights the potential for helping in the aftermath of natural disasters.
Last June, Google鈥檚 pilot attempt at airborne 4G involved helium-filled balloons over Christchurch, New Zealand. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not just the far reaches of the world that don鈥檛 have the Internet,鈥 project founder Richard DeVaul . 鈥淧arts of New Zealand don鈥檛 either. This is a crazy idea. but we might be able to do it.鈥