21 February 2008
An American company is reportedly in talks with companies such as Google to develop a new system whereby rural broadband access would be provided via phone masts on weather balloons.
Space Data is planning to work with telecoms and broadband companies to offer a service to residential customers in countries including the UK, reports indicate
The system uses a lunchbox-sized transceiver attached to a balloon that rises to an altitude of about 100,000ft (30,500m).
The company claims one balloon can provide coverage for an area equivalent to 80 mobile phone towers, and 70 would cover the entire United States.
Jerry Knoblach, the co-founder of the group, told the Times: "We are leveraging off a service — weather balloons — that has been around for a quarter of a century to tap into what is potentially a $10 billion market."
However, the paper points out that the balloons only last 24 hours so a continual supply must be sent up and the expensive transmitters retrieved.