Giant balloons help Broadband to take off in Kenya
As reported by Jane Flanagan in the London Times (31/3/20), giant translucent balloons will soon be floating above the savannahs and mountains of Kenya in an ambitious attempt to bring internet access to millions in rural communities. The inflatables, which have been likened to immense jellyfish, will be launched in America and remotely piloted at a height of 12 miles to the eastAfrican state within the “next few weeks”, President Kenyatta announced.
The ‘Loon Project’ is a joint venture between Google’s parent company Alphabet and Telkom Kenya.
The lack of affordable and reliable broadband is a central obstacle to the ambitions of African businesses. Though Kenya’s metropolitan centres are well connected, many of its population of 50 million remain “unserved or underserved” in towns and villages where there are too few people to support the building of signal equipment on the ground. Instead, the Loon system hangs antennas from 39ft balloons, which are filled with helium and rise twice as high as planes fly. This helps them to avoid weather problems and wildlife.
Loon Project (image by The Times)
Kenya has long been a pioneer of new technology and its capital, which styles itself Silicon Savannah, is often the first choice for investment by international technology companies over South Africa, the continent’s most industrialised economy.
This system, which has apparently been successfully applied in rural areas of Peru and Sri Lanka, should strengthen internet access for Kenya’s farmers and enable them to tap into new technologies.
