Up in the air: is balloon internet the best option? Stephen Lam/Reuters
Google鈥檚 sister company X has lofty ambitions to bring wireless internet to remote parts of the world by beaming it down from balloons. Last week, X announced it wanted to use its Project Loon tech to restore mobile communications to hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico.
Currently, 82 per cent of Puerto Rico鈥檚 internet base stations are down. But is X, which is owned by Google鈥檚 parent company Alphabet and styles itself as the 鈥渕oonshot factory鈥, really Puerto Rico鈥檚 best hope? And who will benefit most 鈥 X…
Article amended on 16 October 2017
We clarified the nature of the 鈥渘etwork-in-a-box鈥 schemes.
