Alphabet Inc. scrapping its nine-year project to use high-altitude balloons to deliver internet access to remote areas.
In a blog post on Thursday, Alastair Westgarth, Head of the Alphabet Loon Project, said: “We have not found a way to keep costs low enough to build a sustainable, long-term business. … Today, I’m sorry to say Loon is coming to an end. ”
Loon was part of the GOOGL of the Alphabet,
GOOG,
“X” business unit, which pilots out moonshot projects. Two other X units – Makani, which used buzzards to generate wind energy, and Foghorn, a project to create clean fuel from seawater – were abandoned a few years ago.
Westgarth said the cost of delivering an internet service with existing technology to the most remote areas was “just too expensive for everyday people,” adding that “we have not found a way to get the costs low enough for business. build a sustainable, long-term. . ”
Loon launched its first commercial service this summer in Kenya.
In a separate blog post Thursday, X head Astro Teller said that while Loon is leaving, it will raise $ 10 million to support nonprofits and businesses aiming at “connection, internet, entrepreneurship and education in Kenya. ”