Alphabet to “ relax ” Loon’s internet broadcast balloons



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In 2013, Google shocked us by announcing Project Loon, an effort to distribute wireless connections from balloons floating 20 km above Earth. Now, as first reported by WiredGoogle’s parent company Alphabet is shutting down, apparently because it couldn’t make the whole thing commercially viable. Loon CEO Alistair Westgarth wrote in a blog post: “While we found a number of willing partners along the way, we haven’t found a way to cut costs enough to build a sustainable business. long-term.”

In 2018, Loon (along with the Wing delivery drones) grew from moonshot X projects to full-fledged divisions within Alphabet. But now X CEO and Chairman of Loon Astro Teller writes, “Despite the team’s revolutionary technical achievements over the past 9 years, the road to commercial viability has proven to be much longer and riskier than planned.

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