Google’s internet-providing balloons soon to float in air

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has given license to Google in order to set up its internet providing Project Loon balloons.

The balloons will fly over Puerto Rico and some parts of the Virgin Islands and will provide coverage there until April 4, 2018. As per initial plans, the company would give emergency LTE cellular reception to local government and residents so that they can connect with friends and family. The service would also permit people to reinstate communication with the outside world.

However, it is not yet known which parts of Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands would be covered or how many balloons would be put up.

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Currently, Google has not yet partnered with any Puerto Rico’s telecom companies and thus, cannot provide any resources towards this Google and Project Loon’s partnership. Google though aims to make this connectivity in the future.

Talking to Engagdet, Google’s home to Project Loon, Alphabet X lab told that collaboration with local telecom networks is critical to success. “To deliver signal to people’s devices, Loon needs be integrated with a telco partner’s network – the balloons can’t do it alone. We’ve been making solid progress on this next step and would like to thank everyone who’s been lending a hand.”

Project Loon will use its balloon network at 65,000 feet up in air in order to receive signals from the telecom partners on ground. The balloons will then send those signals to cellphone users.

According to Mashable, Google has not yet given any further details about this advancement.