100, 000 people in Puerto Rico connected to internet via Project Loon

Seven weeks after hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico, in late September 2017, the island has struggled to repair power lines, water pumps, cell phone towers, roads and bridges. The electrical system and power provider Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority was bankrupt going into the disaster, despite that they have managed to reconnect 40 per cent of its customers early last week.

However, after receiving FCC approval to use balloons to restore cellular and LTE service to the people of Puerto Rico, Alphabet, deployed Project Loon, successfully by partnering with AT&T.

“Project Loon is supporting basic communication and internet activities like sending text messages and accessing information online for some people with LTE enabled phones. This is the first time we have used our new machine learning powered algorithms to keep balloons clustered over Puerto Rico. As we get more familiar with the constantly changing winds in this region, we hope to keep the balloons over areas where connectivity is needed for as long as possible” Alastair Westgarth, Project Loon leader said.

The Project Loon h=now has reached a new milestone by providing internet connectivity for more than 100, 000 people in Puerto Rico.

Alphabet’s Loon balloons serve as replacement for the cell towers that were destroyed by hurricane Maria, but they are not capable of providing any service on their own. Google’s parent company is still relying on AT&T and other cellular carriers to provide service, as Loon is just a delivery mechanism.

Earlier this year Project Loon has been used in conjunction with Peruvian government and wireless providers to restore internet access to tens of thousands of people who were affected by floods.