Google is bringing the Internet to a hundred million Indonesians via Project Loon, the balloon-powered Internet.
Three of the major mobile network operators in Indonesia will commence testing, hoping that the project will make high-speed LTE Internet connections accessible to more than 100 million people in the country. That means limitless use of the Internet for education, economic and cultural opportunities.
Google's Project Loon aims to address the slow Web connections in Indonesia where about only one out of every three people is only connected to the Web. Many people live in places without Internet infrastructure and the country of more than 17,000 islands has many jungles and mountains, making it difficult to install mobile phone towers or run fiber optic cable.
Project Loon is one of the components of Google X, a lab for experimental projects like driverless cars run by American conglomerate, Alphabet Inc., reported USA Today.
Loon balloons are like floating cell phone towers, flying on winds, at double altitudes compared to commercial planes, and at approximately 20 kilometers above the surface of the Earth.
Each balloon beams a connection to the ground. When a balloon drifts out of range, another one takes its place. The Mountain View, California-based Internet titan hopes this will help local operators in Indonesia have wider coverage, and reach even the rural and remote areas.
The balloons travel in the Earth's stratosphere, where winds are close to each other and in layers. Each layer varies in direction and speed. When moving with the wind, the balloons can be arranged to form a large network.
The test with Indonesia's Telkomsel, XL Axiata and Indosat are significant steps to bring all of Indonesia online. It is a major milestone for the Loon Team to move on with the test, and expand the project.
While there are still many people all over the world not able to access the Internet, the Internet giant is doing something. If things go well in Indonesia, many Indonesians will be empowered to bring ideas, businesses and culture online, which at that point, Google Project Loon VP Mike Cassidy said via their official blog, "sky is the limit" for Indonesia.
