Loon, Alphabet’s subsidiary that uses giant balloons to radiate internet to people in remote areas around the world, has announced it will end its operations.
It was formerly part of X, Alphabet’s innovative moonshot factory.
In a Medium report announcing the news, Loon CEO Alastair Westgarth explained that the company’s business model is ultimately unsustainable.
“While we found a number of willing partners along the way, we did not find a way to get costs low enough to build a long-term, sustainable business,” he wrote.
‘We talk a lot about connecting the next billion users, but the reality is that Loon has connected the most difficult problem of all in connection – the last billion users: the communities in areas that are too difficult or remote to reach, or the areas where service is provided. with existing technologies it is just too expensive for everyday people. ‘
Loon was born in 2011, with engineers describing a “garbage bag-like” balloon as an early prototype. The company has been doing tests for years and in 2018 It was shut down from X to become its own subsidiary of Alphabet.
The company based its technology on a striking premise: that balloons would act as ‘floating base stations’, which could cover a much larger area – about 200 times more – than a station on the ground. Its balloons were usually placed about 20 kilometers above the earth.
In recent years, Loon has built a name for himself by connecting people during natural disasters. In 2017, it helped bring internet to tens of thousands of people in Peru after massive floods, and after Hurricane Maria, it helped about 200,000 people get online in Puerto Rico.
Last year, the company also brought its balloons to Africa, which was the first commercial launch of a service of its kind in the region. Telkom Kenya, the mobile service provider he worked with, said on Friday that it would discontinue the pilot with Loon in March.
The news is also the end of another strategic partnership. In 2019, Soft bank (SFTBF) unit HAPSMobile has invested $ 125 million in Loon. The companies said they would work together to “bring more people, places and things online.” HAPSMobile did not immediately respond to a request for comment.