Loon, Alphabet’s subsidiary that used giant balloons to send internet to people in remote areas around the world, announced that it is ending its operations.
In the past, it was part of X, Alphabet’s innovative “moonshot” factory.
In a Medium post announcing the news, Loon’s CEO Alastair Westgarth explained that the company’s business model was unsustainable.
“Although we found several willing partners along the way, we didn’t find a way to cut costs 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 is chasing the most difficult problem of all in connectivity – the last billion users: communities in very difficult or remote areas to reach, or the areas where they provide services with existing technologies is very expensive for ordinary people. “
Loon was born in 2011, with engineers using what they described as a “garbage bag-like” balloon for an initial prototype. The company started to perform years of tests and, in 2018, this was spun off from X to become its own subsidiary of Alphabet.
The company based its technology on an attractive premise: the balloons would act as “floating base stations”, which could cover a much larger area – about 200 times more – than a ground station. IThe ts balloons were generally positioned about 20 kilometers (12 miles) above the Earth.
In recent years, Loon has 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 major floods and, after Hurricane Maria, helped some 200,000 people connect in 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 operator with which it has partnered, said on Friday it would discontinue the pilot with Loon in March.
The news also marks the end of yet another strategic partnership. In 2019, SoftBank (SFTBF) the HAPSMobile unit invested $ 125 million in Loon. The companies said they would come together to “bring more people, places and things online”. HAPSMobile did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday.