Saturday, October 21, 2017

Project Loon balloons to fly over Puerto Rico

Project Loon balloons will fly over Puerto Rico to help deliver Internet access to areas of the island still suffering from lack of connectivity.

Alphabet, the parent company of Google, confirmed that it is working with the Government of Puerto Rico, the FCC, the FAA, AT&T and a range of spectrum partners.

Google said it is "not quite sure how well it will work" but remains hopeful that its balloons can be of some assistance.

For its part, AT&T said it is now connecting 13 million calls and 6.5 million text messages per day in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. AT&T now has 17 portable network assets deployed, including 14 temporary cell sites. Project Loon is one more method to addess the situation.