GOOGLE BALLOONS FOR INTERNET CONNECTION PROJECT IN RURAL INDIA 2014

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Google Balloons for Internet Connection Project over Rural India 2014:

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Google will launches float helium Balloons over rural India for Internet connectivity if an experiment testing the concept yields promising results, a senior official of the company said.

"Though we are still in the pilot phase, we have received several queries on the project and India has also shown great interest in the project," said Todd Rowe managing director for global sales channels at Google. However, he said there was no time frame to launch the project in India as it depends on the success of the ongoing pilot project.

Project Loon was launched as a pilot earlier this month in New Zealand to provide affordable Internet access in remote and rural parts. The plan is to have several Balloons floating around the earth at an altitude of 20 km, or twice the height at which commercial aircraft fly, and beaming connectivity to areas that are not served by traditional copper or fiber optic networks. Special equipment that can be fixed on the roofs will communicate with the balloon, acting as the link enabling the user to communicate with the balloon.

As part of the pilot phase, 30 Balloons have been sent up from New Zealand, and 50 test users were able to access the Internet using the access provided by the balloon network. The 15-m-wide Balloons can stay in the air for 100 days.

Google, whose business prospects are directly related to the number of Internet users, considers the balloon solution as an audacious project bordering on science fiction. The company claims that connection speeds will be comparable to typical 3G access provided by cellular networks. India has over 130 million Internet users, and nearly 900 million cell-phone users, an increasing number of whom are using their mobile phones to access the Internet.

Google already runs Google Fiber, a project to provide Internet at speeds of one gigabit per second, or fast enough to download a high-definition movie in a matter of seconds. Launched in 2011, the service is now available in three American towns. Rowe was in Hyderabad to announce Google's strategy for small and medium enterprises as well as the company's growth plans for that market.

Google sees "great potential" in the south India and hopes to double the number of sales and distribution partners it works with by 2014 end, he said.

Google Internet Balloons Project in India Rural Area 2014: 

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Internet search giant Google may implement 'Project Loon', which is a balloon-mounted Internet access service, in various countries including India.

"We are doing a pilot project in New Zealand and going to see how it works. Once we get satisfactory results, we will be in a position to implement it in other countries as well," Google's managing director, Global Channel Sales, Todd Towed told

"Interestingly, while we are still in the pilot phase, we have been getting multiple queries from different countries including India, which are interested in implementing the project," Towed said.

However, he said, there is no time-frame to launch the project in India.

'Project Loon' Balloons, which carry Internet signal antennas, float in the stratosphere, at a height twice as high as air planes.

They are carried around the earth by winds and can be steered by rising or lowering them to a particular altitude, with winds moving in the desired direction.

Customers may connect to Google's balloon network using a special Internet antenna attached to their building. The signal bounces from balloon to balloon, onto the Internet and back to the earth.

A 'Project Loon' pilot project began on June 15 at the 40th parallel South, which is a circle of latitude that is 40 degrees south of the earth's equatorial plane, when 30 Balloons launched from New Zealand's South Island beamed Internet signals to a small group of pilot testers.

The experience of these pilot testers will be used to refine the technology and shape the next phase of 'Project Loon', Google had said earlier.

Speaking about the company's Premier Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) Partner Programme, Rowe said within 10 months of its launch, the model has gained significant momentum in India.

"We have partnered with 16 medium sized companies, with over 3,000 sales people who have been trained to help SMEs gain from digital advertising. In the next one year, we are looking to significantly increase our presence in South India by doubling our partners and add another 3,000 sales force though these partners," Rowe said.

Jaspreet Bindra, CEO, Get it Info media, one of the largest Premier SME Partners of Google India said that it had entered into a strategic alliance with Google India, though its SME programme to increase Get it’s presence in the country.