As of 2018, nearly half of the world’s population remains offline. As online communication and financial services become increasingly important to economic opportunity around the world, this fact only becomes more troubling. However, Project Loon is one of the several companies working to do something about Internet access(接入) in underserved areas—using balloons. Loon is still in its early stages but aims to operate the solar-powered balloons flying around the world, providing Internet aces for areas that traditional satellites haven’t reached.

In July of 2018, Project Loon announced it would start a large project to provide LTE coverage for Kenya. Kenya’s population is already seedy connecting to the Internet—43 million out of 50 million Kenyans have mobile phones while 33 million have aces to Internet. However, large parts of the country remain underserved by Internet providers. The difficulties are especially pronounced in Kenya’s mountainous central areas.

Loon’s methods are also effective in providing support for people who suffer natural disasters. Loon’s balloons were called into action after Hurricane Maria destroyed Puerto Rico’s Internet facilities in late 2017. By November, Loon had restored access to around 100,000 Puerto Ricans.

Compared with traditional methods which take months t1o respond to crises, Loon is able to begin providing aid within weeks. This is a sign that Loon has the ability to work with areas where disasters happen frequently and provide quick response to future emergencies.

There is certainly no guarantee(保证) that balloons will be providing access for billions in the near future. Loon is still in the early stages, after all, and it’s not the only young company trying to push an Internet breakthrough for the world’s most underserved counties. However, Loon’s new technology continues to advance and draw in promising partnerships.