While Alphabet is shutting down its Loon programme, which aimed to bring quality Internet connectivity to entire regions of Africa using autonomous balloons in the stratosphere, other teams are working on an equally innovative project using light beams. Project Taara aims to deliver high-speed Internet access, worthy of fibre, but without the cables.
Currently under development at X (the former Google X lab), a subsidiary of Alphabet, Project Taara uses light beams to deploy internet connectivity over large distances. Hopefully, it won’t suffer the same fate as Loon...