NAIROBI, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- Kenya's mobile phone operator, Telkom Kenya and Google's Loon Services on Friday announced that the Loon technology pilot will be discontinued from March 1.
Telkom Kenya and Loon said in a joint statement issued in Nairobi that the drastic move follows the announcement that Loon is being wound down as a company, globally.
They said the intent of the Loon technology pilot was to help bridge the digital divide through the provision of 4G/LTE coverage using floating cell towers, in areas that were difficult to access and connect via terrestrial solutions, as well as in areas that were not commercially viable for service providers.
"Loon would not have been possible without a community of innovators and risk-takers who were willing to take a chance on us and build something the world has never seen before," said Loon's CEO, Alastair Westgarth.
"While we're sad to share that Loon's journey is coming to an end, we are grateful to the Telkom team for their vision and partnership," he added in a statement.
Loon and Telkom Kenya have been testing the balloons for the last two years but finally received approval in March 2020 from the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority to deploy the 4G balloons in Kenyan airspace.
The balloons are launched from locations in the U.S. and navigate to Kenya using wind currents in the stratosphere.
Loon's advanced machine learning algorithms work to keep balloons above the service region but there are times when certain stratospheric wind patterns and other impediments such as restricted airspace will result in limited availability to those below.
These balloons, which hovered well above Kenya's commercial airspace, carried 4G base stations and had the capacity to provide wider signal coverage.
The Loon service used its 4G LTE Internet solution to connect unserved and under-served communities in Kenya.
Telkom Kenya CEO Mugo Kibati said the company remains cognizant of the integral role its core terrestrial network plays in keeping customers connected.
"We continue with our long-term terrestrial network expansion plan, which is informed by our overall company strategy, which will see us scale up to 80 percent of our network to 4G, increase our network footprint across the country, and get more Kenyans online," said Kibati. Enditem
