Alphabet’s Project Loon has teamed up with AT&T to deploy its LTE balloons and provide emergency mobile services in parts of Puerto Rico devastated by Hurricane Maria. In a blog, Project Loon said its fleet of stratospheric helium balloons are being used to support basic communication and internet activities like sending text messages and accessing information online for people with LTE-enabled phones. “We’ve never deployed Project Loon connectivity from scratch at such a rapid pace, and we’re grateful for the support of AT&T and the many other partners and organisations that have made this possible,” said Project Loon head Alastair Westgarth.
The company worked with the Federal Communications Commission, the Federal Aviation Authority, FEMA, spectrum partners and international aviation authorities to bring its balloon powered service to the island as quickly as possible. SES Networks and Liberty Cablevision also helped set up essential ground infrastructure so that the balloons could get internet connectivity. Loon added that the Puerto Rico deployment marks the first time it has used its new machine learning powered algorithms to keep balloons clustered.
Loon has previously run pilot programmes in New Zealand and Brazil, and it’s also partnered with a number of countries, including Indonesia and Sri Lanka, to deploy LTE via helium balloons. It recently partnered with Level 3 Communications to provide internet access to underserved areas in Peru affected by natural disaster.
