Google announced that it has partnered with major mobile phone companies in Indonesia and will start testing with balloons to provide internet to more than 100 million citizens. The venture is called Loon.
Since Indonesia is spread across more than 17,000 islands with difficult terrain, its internet infrastructure is poor and about two thirds of the population do not have access to the World Wide Web.
According to a Google announcement, the company is working with Indosat, Telkomsel and XL Axiata to test Project Loon starting next year. The company hopes to provide 4G LTE internet connections over the next few years from balloons that will fly about 20 kilometers above the Earth's surface.
It will be interesting to see if it can beat similar efforts that aim to provide internet access via satellites.
