Google’s affiliated company, Loon has established ground stations in Nyeri which will bring mobile internet connection to remote areas in partnership with Telkom Kenya. Loon has ground stations in Nairobi, Nakuru and Nyeri. With the addition of a third beaming station, Loon’s footprint on the ground is evolving from a line to a triangle in central Kenya.
Ground stations are located to support balloon access to internet connection. The facilities will transmit internet signal to balloons overhead. The signal will then be transferred across the network and finally to individuals’ mobile phones, enabling mobile internet access for people in areas where traditional ground stations are not available.
“The balloons act as floating cell towers, transmitting a provider’s service; in this case Telkom’s service directly to a subscriber’s existing 4G/LTE phone below. Loon’s equipment is powered by on-board solar panels, eliminating reliance on power infrastructure that is often lacking in rural or remote areas. The lack of such power infrastructure can be an impediment to setting up ground-based towers in such areas,” the companies said in a statement.
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Last year, the partners secured regulatory approvals from the Communications Authority (CA) and the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority to allow Loon host Telkom’s signal on the balloons, utilise millimetre wave technology necessary for sending connectivity from the ground to balloons as well as import and install ground infrastructure.
According to a 2019 report by Hootsuite and We are Social, 91.99 percent of all internet users in Kenya access the internet through their mobile phones. These 39.86 million active mobile internet users represent 77 percent of the total population.
Loon and Telkom are working to enable more Kenyans access the Internet via their mobile phones. With this new technology, Kenya will be a pioneer in extending the Internet to people who are not able to get reliable connections.
After completion of these ground stations, the partners will proceed to test the network before piloting it for commercial use. The testing is scheduled to start within the first half of this year.
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