Founded in 2011, Loon aimed to bring connectivity to areas
of the world where building cell towers is too expensive or treacherous by
using balloons the length of tennis courts to float solar-powered networking
gear high above the Earth. But the wireless carriers that Loon saw as buyers of
its technology have questioned its technical and political viability.
"While we’ve found a number of willing partners along
the way, we haven’t found a way to get the costs low enough to build a
long-term, sustainable business," Loon Chief Executive Alastair Westgarth
said in a blog post.
Alphabet executive Astro Teller said in a separate blog post
that despite Loon's "groundbreaking technical achievements" over the
past nine years, "the road to commercial viability has proven much longer
and riskier than hoped."
Westgarth said Loon's legacy would include advancing helium
balloons to last hundreds of days in the sky and developing communications
equipment that could deliver cell coverage across an area 200 times bigger than
an average tower can.
But among challenges were that a carrier would need several
balloons at once, and each balloon cost tens of thousands of dollars and lasted
only about five months.
Loon launched a pilot project in Kenya in 2020, years behind
schedule after regulatory delays. Its partner, Telkom Kenya, did not
immediately respond to a request for comment.
The technology previously proved successful in short
projects to provide cell coverage in Peru and Puerto Rico when cell towers were
downed by natural disasters. The company had pitched countries and
international organizations on contracting with Loon to fly in during future
emergencies, but gained little traction.
Loon said it may share its technology with carriers,
governments or nonprofit groups aiming to bring high-speed internet to the last
few places in the world.
The company employed 200 people as of 2019. It drew a $125
million investment that year from SoftBank’s HAPSMobile, which is working on
floating cell equipment with drones.
HAPSMobile declined to comment on the financial effect of
Loon's shutdown but said it would "continue to work toward our goal of
developing a commercial business."
Separately, companies backed by billionaire entrepreneurs,
such as Elon Musk, Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos, continue to look at offering
internet connections using satellites in near-Earth orbit.
Alphabet previously shuttered what it calls "other
bets," or entities separate to Google, such as one working on
power-generating kites. Alphabet has pressed some "bets" to raise
funding from other investors or become self-sustaining. Loon struggled to
attract investment.
The company maintains at least one "bet" tackling
the skies - Wing, which is aiming to commercialize goods delivery by drone.