Project Loon Connects Tens Of Thousands Of People In Puerto Rico, Adds T-Mobile

Alphabet X’s Project Loon has delivered internet connection to tens of thousands of people in Puerto Rico affected by Hurricane Maria, the company announced Friday night. The project also has a new partner: T-Mobile.

Hurricane Maria knocked down 90 percent of its cell towers on the island. After the storm’s destruction, the Alphabet X unit, AT&T, Apple and the Federal Communications Commission have been working to bring balloon-powered internet to residents on the island.

The experiment consists of a network of large stratospheric balloons that provides connectivity to residents on the ground. The balloons float more than 12 miles into the stratosphere, which allows it to cover more distances than cell towers and connects users to the internet with LTE smartphones. The large balloons move depending on wind currents.

Here’s a video on how the balloons work:

The Project Loon and AT&T partnership has allowed residents with LTE smartphones to carry out basic communication and internet activities, like sending texts and accessing information online.

As of Friday, T-Mobile began doing the same with the Alphabet X unit, the carrier announced.

“Our team has also left no stone unturned when it comes to getting people connected until infrastructure destroyed by Maria can be replaced,” said T-Mobile Chief Technology Officer Neville Ray in a statement. “One of these solutions is Project Loon, an experimental system that our engineering experts worked on with the team at X, Alphabet’s Moonshot factory. This balloon-based LTE access allows us to deliver more limited data and texting services to customers in hard to reach areas and I’m pleased to share that this is live as of today!”

“Now both @ATT & @TMobile customers can access limited internet connectivity from Loon balloons,” Project Loon said on Twitter. “We hope it helps.”

Earlier this month, the Federal Communications Commision granted an experimental license for Project Loon to operate on the island that is home to more than three million Americans.

“We’ve never deployed Project Loon connectivity from scratch at such a rapid pace, and we’re grateful for the support of AT&T, T-Mobile and the many other partners and organizations that have made this possible,” Alastair Westgarth, head of Project Loon, wrote in a blog post.

Meanwhile, Apple said last week it has been working with AT&T to bring connection to residents on the island through a special carrier settings update.