Alphabet’s Loon Service now live in Kenya

The company’s airborne balloons that are flying in stratospheric winds 20km above Earth now provide internet connection to rural Kenya.

Loon’s deployment in Kenya has been in the works since they signed a contract with Telkom Kenya in July 2018. Since then, they’ve been collaborating with both Telkom and the government to prepare for these operations. In late March this year, the Kenyan government had given formal approval for Loon’s balloons to operate in the stratosphere above the country.

Kenya is the first country… to have base stations high up in the sky. Now we will be able to cover the whole country in a very short span of time.

Information Minister Joe Mucheru

The company shared a video of the launch on its platform:

https://youtu.be/OYRXmwM-NPk

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