Weather Balloons To Provide Broadband In Africa

An anonymous reader writes "Two African entrepreneurs have secured exclusive access to market near-space technology — developed by Space Data, an American telecommunications company — throughout Africa. The technology raises hydrogen-filled weather balloons to 80,000 — 100,000 feet, which individuals contact via modems. The balloons, in turn, serve as satellite substitutes which can connect Africans to broadband Internet. 'Network operation centers are located close to a fiber optic cable — say, in Lagos or Accra — and a signal is sent back and forth to the [balloon] in near space,' says one of the entrepreneurs, Timothy Anyasi. The technology will also allow mobile phone operators to offer wireless modems to customers."

Comments

Re:This will be nice

[Anonymous Coward]

A weather balloon IS a UAV that can stay up for extended periods of time.

Re:This will be nice

[MyLongNickName]

Why do you want to over engineer things? A balloon is easy to make, cheap to make and can stay up for days.

Re:Seriously?

[T Murphy]

First of all, if they are seriously considering a commercial venture here, it implies there are enough well-off people to be served that it could be a viable business. Second, this will simply generate business, which means more cashflow, leading to more economic growth witin these countries. Not to mention poverty is commonly tied to low education and the internet is a powerful educational tool when used properly.