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However, it will take two to three years before operators can monetise on the project

Google will start testing its Project Loon in Indonesia this year after announcing a partnership with Indonesian telco operator Indosat Ooredoo in Mountain View, California, on October 2015.

The project will disseminate ‘Internet balloons’ over remote areas in Sumatra, Borneo, and Papua that will operate as a flying base transceiver station (BTS). The balloons will receive signals transmitted via satellite to provide Internet service through a 4G LTE network. A statement from Google claimed that the download speed from using these balloons will reach up to 10 Mbps.

As reported by Kompas Tekno, Google is partnering with several Indonesian telco operators such Indosat Ooredoo, Telkomsel, and XL Axiata to conduct this project.

After initial testing for a year, telco companies are expected to monetise from the project in the following two or three years.

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The project was one of the deals announced during President Joko Widodo’s visit to Silicon Valley in October 2015, in which he later had to bail due to the country’s Autumn haze crisis.

When Project Loon first announced it planned to enter the Indonesian market, state-owned telco operator Telkom initially objected to it. However, now the company’s mobile service subsidiary Telkomsel is involved with the project. In October, Telkom’s Director of Innovation and Strategic Portfolio Indra Utoyo stated the plan will harm the local telecommunications industry since Google will bypass the local connections.

Apart from Indonesia, Google also announced Project Loon plans in Sri Lanka.

Image Credit: Alexandre Perotto on Unsplash.com

The post Come fly with me: Project Loon to start test flight in Indonesia this year appeared first on e27.

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