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Loon's Balloon-Powered Internet Heads to Africa

It'll mark the first time Loon's technology will be deployed in Africa. The plan is to provide the balloon-powered internet starting next year in Kenyan's central region for customers of a local telecommunication provider.

 & Michael Kan Principal Reporter

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Alphabet's balloon-powered internet is going to Africa.

A week after becoming an actual business, Alphabet's Loon struck its first commercial deal, which will involve serving smartphone users in central Kenya.

The agreement will pilot the technology with Telkom Kenya, the country's third largest telecommunication provider, which has 4 million subscribers in the country. The balloon-powered internet will start rolling out next year in the country's central region, which has been difficult to serve due to its mountainous terrain —making it an ideal testing ground.

However, Loon CEO Alastair Westgarth noted this will mark the first time its balloon-powered internet will be used in Africa. "This is a first for all of us, and over the coming months we will collaborate on the technical, operational, and other work needed to expand Telkom's network to more people in Kenya," he wrote in a Wednesday blog post.

Loon's previous trials have occurred in New Zealand and the Americas. Most recently, the company's balloons were used in Puerto Rico to provide emergency 4G/LTE service to 100,000 people following the devastation from Hurricane Maria.

The technology is specifically designed to provide internet access in parts of the world where building cell towers or fiber optic networks on the ground is too difficult or costly. Loon's solution works by using hot-air balloons to essentially act as floating cell towers that can beam 4G access to smartphone owners down below.

The balloons themselves are designed to float for more than 100 days at a height of 60,000 feet. To navigate, they ride wind currents and get power from the sun.

In Kenya, Loon will serve a country that's been experiencing rapid growth in mobile internet adoption. It now has 35 million mobile data subscriptions, up from 25 million, following the deployment of new 4G networks in the nation, according to the Communications Authority of Kenya.

About Our Expert

Michael Kan

Michael Kan

Principal Reporter

My Experience

I've been a journalist for over 15 years. I got my start as a schools and cities reporter in Kansas City and joined PCMag in 2017, where I cover satellite internet services, cybersecurity, PC hardware, and more. I'm currently based in San Francisco, but previously spent over five years in China, covering the country's technology sector.

Since 2020, I've covered the launch and explosive growth of SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet service, writing 600+ stories on availability and feature launches, but also the regulatory battles over the expansion of satellite constellations, fights with rival providers like AST SpaceMobile and Amazon, and the effort to expand into satellite-based mobile service. I've combed through FCC filings for the latest news and driven to remote corners of California to test Starlink's cellular service.

I also cover cyber threats, from ransomware gangs to the emergence of AI-based malware. In 2024 and 2025, the FTC forced Avast to pay consumers $16.5 million for secretly harvesting and selling their personal information to third-party clients, as revealed in my joint investigation with Motherboard.

I also cover the PC graphics card market. Pandemic-era shortages led me to camp out in front of a Best Buy to get an RTX 3000. I'm now following how the AI-driven memory shortage is impacting the entire consumer electronics market. I'm always eager to learn more, so please jump in the comments with feedback and send me tips.

The Best Tech I've Had:

  • My first video game console: a Nintendo Famicom
  • I loved my Sega Saturn despite PlayStation's popularity.
  • The iPod Video I received as a gift in college
  • Xbox 360 FTW
  • The Galaxy Nexus was the first smartphone I was proud to own.
  • The PC desktop I built in 2013, which still works to this day.

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