Loon, Alphabet’s subsidiary that used giant balloons to transmit the Internet to people in remote areas around the world, has announced that it is ending its operations.
It used to be part of X, Alphabet’s innovative “moon” factory.
In a media release announcing the news, Loon CEO Alastair Westgarth explained that the company’s business model was ultimately unsustainable.
“While we’ve found several willing partners along the way, we haven’t found 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 been chasing the hardest problem of connectivity: the last billion users: communities in areas that are too difficult or remote to reach, or areas where services are provided with existing technologies is too expensive for everyday people. “
Loon was born in 2011, with engineers using what they described as a “garbage bag-like” balloon for a first prototype. The company continued to conduct years of testing and, in 2018, that it separated 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. JoThe balloons were generally located about 20 kilometers (12 miles) above the Earth.
In recent years, Loon had built a name for himself by connecting people during natural disasters. In 2017, it helped bring the Internet to tens of thousands of people in Peru after the massive floods, and after Hurricane Maria, it helped some 200,000 people connect to Puerto Rico.
Last year, the company also brought its balloons to Africa, marking the first commercial launch of such a service in the region. Telkom Kenya, the mobile service provider it partnered with, said on Friday it would leave the pilot with Loon in March.
The news also marks the end of another strategic partnership. In 2019, SoftBank (SFTBF) the HAPSMobile unit invested $ 125 million in Loon. Companies said they would team up to “put more people, places and things online.” HAPSMobile did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday.