Project Loon is a network of balloons that provides connectivity to users on the ground. With the approval, the project will try to start service in Puerto Rico. Project Loon obtained consent agreements to use land mobile radio (LMR) radio spectrum in the 900 MHz band from existing carriers operating within Puerto Rico.
According to the FCC's most recent update, 81.9 percent of cell cites are out of service and all counties except Bayamon, Catano, Carolina, Guaynabo, San Juan, Toa Alta and Toa Baja, have more than 75 percent of their cell sites out of service. About 22 counties (out of the 78) have 100 percent outages.
Tesla is also working on efforts to help Puerto Rico, TechCrunch reported. Hundreds of Tesla Powerwall battery systems are already in Puerto Rico and Tesla employees are in the territory helping with installation and training for maintenance. Tesla and Google are joining an effort to rebuild the island’s infrastructure that also includes Facebook, which committed to send its connectivity staff to the island to help in recovery and reconstruction.
Late last week, Pai announced he was forming a Hurricane Recovery Task Force with special attention on Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.
