According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, Google is considering contracting with or buying up a wireless services firm that uses gas-filled balloons 20 miles up in the stratosphere to blanket the thousands of square miles below with wireless signals. The company is called Space Data and currently provides telecom services to truckers and oil companies but aims to provide services to rural Americans. Space Data makes use of 10 balloons a day, which it launches across the Southern U.S.
For more on Space Data and Google:
- see the full article [1] from the WSJ (sub. req.)
Links:
[1] http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120347353988378955.html?mod=telecommunications_primary_hs