Technology giant Google hopes to bring its Project Loon to India, which will offer affordable Internet access to millions, soon even as the government holds the view that the project will interfere with cellular transmissions of mobile operators in the country
Google, Project Loon
New Delhi: Technology giant Google hopes to bring its Project Loon to India, which will offer affordable Internet access to millions, soon even as the government holds the view that the project will interfere with cellular transmissions of mobile operators in the country.
Speaking at the Google for India event, the company's CEO Sundar Pichai said, "Project Loon will launch balloons in the sky to help reach out to rural areas".
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Elaborating the same, Google Vice President (Access Strategy and Emerging Markets) Marian Croak said the company is 'passionate' about building and deploying new Internet infrastructure around the world.
"One of the technologies that we have in our portfolio is Project Loon. It's a project that we are working on with local telcos all across the world, and we are testing these high altitude balloons which literally act as almost like floating cell towers... to connect people in hard to reach regions that are scarcely populated and we are working to hopefully bring Project Loon to India in rural communities that have very few people connected to the Internet," she said.
The statement assumes importance as Communications and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had recently told Parliament that Google's Project Loon will interfere with cellular transmissions of mobile operators in India.
Croak said the company is working across the world with local carriers, operators and suppliers and does not carry out the project on its own.