UPDATED 08:56 EDT / JULY 30 2015

NEWS

Sri Lanka to get blanket Web access via Google’s Project Loon

Sri Lanka is all set to receive blanket Internet coverage throughout the country after it penned a deal with Google to deploy its Project Loon across its territory.

On Wednesday, Sri Lanka said it would become the first country in the world to provide a universal Internet service for its citizens through the deal with Google, which will do so using Loom air balloons.

Project Loon is certainly one of Google’s crazier ideas, but it looks like it could be about to pay off. Loon was originally part of Project X, and was launched in 2013 after two years in development. According to earlier statements, Google wants to create a ring of “uninterrupted connectivity” throughout the country.

This isn’t the first deployment, although it’s the first to be done on a nationwide scale. Previously, Google has tested its Loon balloons with some success in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, New Mexico and New Zealand. Eventually, Google wants to create a network of balloons floating in the stratosphere at around 20 km (12.4 mi) above the Earth’s surface. The balloons will be equipped with solar panels and carry a box of electronics and communications gear underneath that provides LTE internet connectivity to an area on the ground around 40 km (25 mi) in diameter.

Speaking to reporters, Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera said that he’s “proud to declare that we are at the cusp of a reclaiming our heritage of being connected to each other and connected to the world. In a few months we will truly be able to say: Sri Lanka. Covered.”

At which point, we can presume that Sri Lanka’s entire population of around $20 million should be able to access high-speed Internet via their smartphones from anywhere in the country. It could well lead to profound changes in a nation that presently has just 2.8 million mobile Internet connections and less than a million with fixed-line connections.

On the downside, Loon’s connectivity will come at a price. That’s because Google is working with local carriers to deliver the service, and so users will need to have either a contract or a pay-as-you-go deal. Even so, Sri Lankan media said Loon’s roll out should help to elminate black spots in the country and boost the overall speed and quality of Web access while reducing the costs.

Sri Lanka’s government didn’t say exactly when Project Loon would be up and running in the country, but Muhunthan Canagey, head of the local ICT agency, told AFP that most of the Loon balloons should be launched by March 2016.


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