Alphabet Shuts Down Loon After Failing to Sustain Balloon Internet Business
Alphabet is winding down Loon, its nine-year-old project that uses high-altitude balloons to deliver internet to remote areas. The company pulls the plug after failing to find a sustainable business model despite recent successful commercial deployments in Kenya.
Alphabet officially ends Loon, a nine-year-old moonshot project that uses a fleet of high-altitude balloons to beam high-speed internet to remote parts of the world. The company shuts down the spin-off firm after failing to find a sustainable business model and willing partners to keep the operations afloat. This closure follows Alphabet's decision to end Google Station, its other major connectivity effort that previously provided free Wi-Fi at railway stations in India.
The timing of this shutdown surprises many industry watchers because Loon achieves a major milestone just months ago by securing approval to launch commercial connectivity services in Kenya. Despite successfully demonstrating the technology's ability to deliver internet from the sky, the project struggles to lower costs enough to build a long-term, profitable business. Loon's CEO admits that connecting the last billion users in difficult or remote areas proves to be too expensive for everyday people.
Alphabet's exit from the balloon internet space leaves companies like SpaceX and Amazon to pursue similar connectivity goals using satellite networks. As SpaceX secures hundreds of millions of dollars from the FCC to serve rural areas with its Starlink satellites, these remaining competitors also face difficult feasibility questions about delivering affordable internet to the world's most unreachable communities.