Loon's project to provide broadband Internet access using balloons has received widespread support from the technology sector. Let us recall that its implementation is carried out by a subsidiary of the Alphabet Inc holding, Loon LLC, and the company HAPSMobile, part of SoftBank Group Corp.
Late this week, a group of telecommunications, technology, aviation and aerospace companies, including Airbus Defense and Space and Softbank Corp., announced the formation of a partnership called the HAPS Alliance. The declared goal of the alliance is to promote the use of high-altitude aircraft in the Earth's stratosphere in order to bridge the digital divide and provide Internet access to more people in remote areas of the planet.
HAPSMobile, Loon, AeroVironment, Airbus Defense and Space, Bharti Airtel Limited, China Telecom Corporation, Deutsche Telekom, Ericsson, Intelsat, Nokia Corporation, SoftBank Corp. and Telefónica - all of these companies have committed to join the HAPS Alliance, which was originally an initiative of HAPSMobile and Loon.
The expanded alliance aims to create a collaborative ecosystem of high-altitude telecommunications platform stations (HAPS) and promote uniform regulation and industry-wide standards for high-altitude vehicles that carry network equipment on balloons (in the case of Loon) and HAPSMobile drones. Both systems are solar powered.
Loon has already struck deals with wireless carriers in и . Its technology can provide Internet access to remote areas with low population density or in mountainous areas, and maintain service in the event of natural disasters.
HAPSMobile, the brainchild of SoftBank Corp. CTO. Junichi Miyakawa plans to commercialize his services in 2023.
Source: 3dnews.ru