Google's ambitious project to take the Internet to the skies is moving forward thanks to a collaboration with Australian telecommunications giant Telstra.
Loon is Google's name for its plan to create worldwide 3G or 4G internet access from a fleet of networked balloons in the stratosphere broadcasting at 2.6 GHz. Flying high above airplanes, the balloons would relay signals from base stations to other surrounding balloons, creating an Internet connection across the sky.
Test flights will take place in Australia, and Google has announced it will lease base stations and spectrum from Telstra, the country's largest telecommunications provider. They'll send 20 balloons high above Queensland in December, hoping to refine the technology along the way. (Other tests have taken place in the United States and New Zealand).
If this Google X project comes to fruition, it could make worldwide Internet access a reality, bridging the digital divide.
Via The Guardian.