Balloons, long derided as a marginal and slightly mad approach to universal broadband, are taking their place in the sun thanks to Google’s Project Loon. As the search giant reveals further plans for its wireless broadband network for underserved areas, backhauled by low flying balloons, others are taking interest too, and the Brazilian government has unveiled its own project.
At the first of Google’s balloons was launched this week, Brazil’s public telecoms company Telebras has announced its own initiative, together with the National Institute for Space Research (INPE), which will start testing next month. Such programs threaten to limit the influence and control Google hopes to achieve by building a network itself in emerging economies ‘ areas of future high growth in internet usage, where the US firm can leverage its infrastructure to push its web services and support non-traditional service providers rather than just cellcos.
Google held talks with the Brazilian government this month about possible partnerships, and of course its deep pockets will be an attractive way to reduce costs, but some major growth economies are keen to control the expansion of broadband access ‘ with the social and economic change, and revenue potential, that brings ‘ themselves rather than be too reliant on a US company. So government run projects to wire up underserved communities ‘ whether based on balloons or more traditional methods ‘ may limit Google’s own reach in future.
The Brazilian project uses off-the-shelf equipment and a prototype made by Altave, a start-up from the S’o Paulo area. This is in line with Brazilian government policies ‘ mirrored in India, Russia and elsewhere ‘ of relying as much as possible on local supplier for critical infrastructure projects. The Ministry of Communications says it will consider foreign solutions if these prove more effective. It believes that balloons will be far cheaper, and cover wider areas, than towers and will test its system with the Altave balloon attached to the ground, and to a moving vehicle, sending signals to the local city hall and a school. Then an invitation to tender will be issued with a more advanced prototype to be built next year and a final launch in 2015.
Google CEO Larry Page sidestepped questions, during the company’s quarterly earnings call, about commercializing Loon but the firm is vocal elsewhere about the impact trial balloons have had, and the more sophisticated antenna technologies which will go into future versions. The company explains on its Google+ page that the approach is not comparable to building a satellite constellation, in which the birds follow the Earth’s orbit, because the balloons are free floating in the stratosphere, and subject ot wind. In planning terms, it is closer to a cellular network, in terms of building up capacity and coverage in a gradual way, but with ‘towers’ that move around while most subscribers are stationary, rather than the other way round.