Connecting Africa is part of the Informa Tech Division of Informa PLC

This site is operated by a business or businesses owned by Informa PLC and all copyright resides with them. Informa PLC's registered office is 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG. Registered in England and Wales. Number 3099067.

Ultra-Broadband

Loon brings balloon-powered Internet to Mozambique

Article Image
Balloon-powered Internet is coming to Mozambique as Loon – the Alphabet subsidiary that rose from Google's X moonshot factory – partners with Vodacom to bring Internet connectivity to the country's hard-to-reach areas.

"Loon and Vodacom have signed a commercial contract to begin serving the Cabo Delgado and Niassa provinces of Mozambique, two regions that have proven hard to cover in the past due to their vast and logistically challenging geographies," said Loon's CEO Alastair Westgarth in a blog post.

Loon's deployment of balloon-powered Internet is already underway in Kenya and it is now expanding into its second market in Africa. (See Loon to Land Third Ground Station in Kenya.)

"Vodacom has a big footprint in southern Africa, and provides service to tens of millions of people across multiple countries every single day. With Loon's Mobile Network Expansion (MNE) solution, we'll help Vodacom reach more users in Mozambique and bring connectivity to places where it previously didn't exist," Westgarth said.

Loon has seen momentum growing lately, with a breakthrough airspace deal with Uganda that allowed it to begin flying balloons in Kenya and a recent partnership with AT&T in the US, which also extends to AT&T's partners around the world.

A Loon balloon being launched (Source: Loon).
A Loon balloon being launched (Source: Loon).

Westgarth explained that a deal with an operator like Vodacom is a prerequisite for the company to provide LTE service in any country.

"In order to serve we also need access to a country's airspace as well as regulatory approval to utilize spectrum and import and install ground infrastructure. Over the past few months, the Loon and Vodacom teams have been working collaboratively with various regulators to secure these approvals and enable the service," he said, adding that the partners now have the necessary permissions to fly above Mozambique, to import and install ground infrastructure, and to serve Vodacom users with Loon's floating cell towers.

Vodacom Group's CEO, Shameel Joosub, said in a statement that the partnership is a perfect example of how technological innovation can connect the most rural communities in Africa.

"We are pleased to be part of this initiative in Mozambique, which is helping to bridge the digital divide. This is even more pertinent in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, where more Mozambicans will now have access to healthcare information through our Loon partnership."

He said the telco is hoping to forge similar partnerships and projects across the continent in the future.

Vodacom said the Loon solution will provide a 4G service that supports data, voice, SMS and USSD, which will also enable mobile financial services. The service will be available to any Vodacom subscriber with a standard 4G-VoLTE enabled handset and SIM card. Users will not need to do anything special to connect to the service; they will connect just as they would to a normal cell tower.

Vodacom said it has more than 6 million subscribers in Mozambique, and the biggest market share in the country, and its various network technologies currently cover up to 62% of the Mozambican population.

"In the coming months, we will continue to install ground infrastructure and begin flying test flights so Loon's autonomous navigation system can begin learning the wind patterns in the stratosphere above Mozambique," Westgarth added.

Source: Loon
Source: Loon

Loon has taken the most essential components of a cell tower and redesigned them to be light and durable enough to be carried by a balloon 20km (12.4 miles) up. The balloons are the size of a tennis court and made from sheets of polyethylene, and powered by an on-board solar panel. They are made to last for more than 100 days before landing back on Earth in a controlled descent.

Westgarth said that expanding to a second country in Africa both broadens the impact that Loon can have, and also brings with it benefits for the operational efficiency of the balloon fleet.

"Since Loon vehicles float on wind currents in the stratosphere, they are constantly moving in and out of a given service region. With two countries in close proximity to one another, we can share vehicles across service regions when it makes sense to do so, which will increase our utilization rates. It's pretty cool that in the lifespan of one vehicle, it could serve in multiple countries, multiple times," he explained.

— Paula Gilbert, Editor, Connecting Africa

Innovation hub

Story

Hot startup of the month: Nigeria's Tech Herfrica

Connecting Africa's hot startup is Nigeria's Tech Herfrica, a social impact organization that focuses on the digital and financial inclusion of women and girls in rural areas of Nigeria.

Story

Omdia View: February 2024

Highlights in February 2024 in the Middle East and Africa included 5G launches in Senegal and 5G trials in Egypt as well as Kenya's first 5G MVNO. Airtel also launched a new wholesale connectivity business while MTN and Huawei are planning a joint Innovation Technology Lab in South Africa – that and more in this month's Omdia View.

More Innovation hub

Latest video

More videos

Partner perspectives

All Partner Perspectives

Sponsored video

More videos

Industry announcements

More Industry announcements

Upcoming events

Africa Tech Festival 2024
November 11-14, 2024
Cape Town, South Africa
More Upcoming events

Africa Tech Perspectives

Story

Uber's Marjorie Saint-Lot on inclusion and sustainability in Africa

Uber's Country Manager for Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire, Marjorie Saint-Lot, shares how the ride-hailing company is approaching public-private partnerships, environmentally friendly initiatives and gender inclusion in Africa.

Story

The 100 most influential African leaders in 2023

A new report from Africa Tech Festival and Connecting Africa puts a spotlight on the top 100 African leaders in the telecoms and technology sector in 2023.

Story

Deep dive into East Africa's tech startup ecosystem

New survey reveals a lack of access to investors, reliance on international VCs and global recession trends as the biggest barriers for East African tech startups to access funds.

More Africa Tech perspectives

Guest Perspectives

Story

Omdia View: February 2024

By Omdia Analysts

Highlights in February 2024 in the Middle East and Africa included 5G launches in Senegal and 5G trials in Egypt as well as Kenya's first 5G MVNO. Airtel also launched a new wholesale connectivity business while MTN and Huawei are planning a joint Innovation Technology Lab in South Africa – that and more in this month's Omdia View.

Story

Omdia View: January 2024

By Omdia Analysts

Highlights in January 2024 in the Middle East and Africa included a $200 million fintech deal between MTN and Mastercard as well as 5G network trials by Telecom Egypt – that and more in this month's Omdia View.

More Guest Perspectives

Like us on Facebook

Newsletter Sign Up


Sign Up
Tag id test-002