It's interesting. Overall, a very cool idea although, I suspect this really wouldn't work well anywhere else but Africa. These balloons obviously take advantage of some form of mesh networking, so bandwidth would be limited by the number of balloons in the sky. But when you compare their proposed 300kbit option with the alternative ($10,000 for satellite equipment and high monthly costs for essentially the same bandwidth) this is obviously a winner.
Unless you could engineer a dedicated backhaul link for 1-4 balloons in addition to controlling where the balloons landed, this isn't something that would be practical in the US. Tyler Booth // President ph. 503.548.2000 | fx. 503.548.2002 921 SW Washington St, Suite 224 Portland OR 97205 On Jun 20, 2009, at 11:15 PM, Tom Higgins wrote: > > I know how well BallonWifi goes over here, but lookesee what this is > splainin... > --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > http://www.internetevolution.com/author.asp?section_id=694&doc_id=178131&; > > Weather Balloons to Serve Up Web Access in Africa > > Written by Deborah Nason 6/17/2009 > > Weather balloons may soon provide the first affordable broadband > Internet > access to the one-billion-strong African mass market. > > Accountant Timothy Anyasi and petroleum engineer Collins Nwani, both > Nigerian-born serial entrepreneurs based in the U.S., have secured > exclusive > rights to market a type of near-space technology -- developed by > American > telecommunications company Space Data -- throughout the African > continent. > > Anyasi and Nwani decided to move ahead with their marketing plans > after Space > Data secured a contract with the United States military in 2007 to > field-test > the technology in Iraq and Afghanistan. The partners will operate > through a > consortium that is now in the formation stages, which they call > Spaceloon. > > The technology raises hydrogen-filled weather balloons, serving in > effect as > satellite substitutes, to an altitude between 80,000 and 100,000 > feet. As > individual users contact the balloons via modem, the balloons bridge > them to > a nearby Earth-bound network operations center (NOC), which in turn > connects > to various Internet gateways. > > “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,” Anyasi says. > > By tapping into countries with fiber optic technology, Spaceloon > intends to > buy cheap access in the oceanfront capital cities of Africa for resale > wirelessly to the interior. > > Spaceloon will concentrate its initial efforts in four countries, > which run > roughly east to west on a similar latitude -- from westernmost > Sierra Leone > to Liberia, Ghana, and Nigeria. The company is seeking subsidies > from the > governments to prove the concept, followed by plans for a massive > rollout as > soon as possible. > > Transmission speed will depend on the customer’s line of sight and > the amount > of bandwidth purchased, though Anyasi says download speeds should > match or > exceed those of satellite Internet solutions. Corporate customers, for > example, can pay for a dedicated daily balloon that will deliver > speeds up to > 10 Mbit/s. Families, on the other hand, could opt for a budget- > friendly plan > of about 300 kbit/s. That's not super fast, but it would be the first > affordable option ever available to some African residents. > > Anyasi says bandwidth can be extended: “In busy times, we can simply > send up > more balloons.” > > The balloons come down every 24 hours due to the limitations of > battery life > -- and to keep them from floating into territories that don’t > subscribe to > the service. “You’re looking at a wide geographic area -- there’s a > wide jet > stream at near space -- and that allows balloons to keep on floating > without > stop,” Anyasi explains. “It’s cheap to bring them down, as balloons > cost only > about $50, and since they are equipped with a GPS, it is easy to > locate them > and reuse them.” > > Spaceloon will be the first ISP option available to the African mass > market > (outside the largest cities) without huge up-front costs. Currently, > customers wishing fixed-line Internet access must either purchase a > VSAT for > as much as $10,000 or procure a personal wireless tower and roof- > mounted dish > for about $1,000. > > Spaceloon customers would need only buy a locally made satellite > dish for > about $10, a regular modem, and connection to the service. Monthly > pricing > will be at least half the cost of all current options, according to > Anyasi. > > The impact on Africa’s Internet industry could be enormous. > > Besides providing Internet access to previously unserved markets in > city > outskirts and rural regions, the technology would allow mobile phone > operators to offer wireless modems to their customers. (Currently > there are > about 320 million mobile phone users in Africa.) To this end, > Spaceloon is in > discussions with large wireless providers Mobile Telephone Networks > (MTN) and > Vodafone, which each have a large business presence in a number of > African > countries. > > The concept is simple, but the implications are massive. As Anyasi > says, > “Anyone, anywhere can get [wireless] Internet access. All you need > is access > to the sky and you have reception.” > > — Deborah Nason is a freelance writer based in Connecticut. > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ The Personal Telco Project - http://www.personaltelco.net/ Donate to PTP: http://www.personaltelco.net/donate Archives: http://news.gmane.org/gmane.network.wireless.portland.general/ Etiquette: http://www.personaltelco.net/index.cgi/MailingListEtiquette List information: http://lists.personaltelco.net To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
