Sri Lanka ties with Google for Internet beamed from balloons

Sri Lanka teamed up with Google to bring high-speed Internet access to the island using balloons, aiming to become the first country in the region with complete coverage.

Foreign minister Mangala Samaraweera said officials signed an agreement with Google in the capital Colombo to launch the helium-filled, high-tech balloons above the Indian Ocean island in coming months. Google announced Project Loon in 2013 aimed at delivering Internet connections to remote or rural areas worldwide using gear floating from thousands of the balloons. "The entire Sri Lankan island - every village from (southern) Dondra to (northern) Point Pedro - will be covered with affordable high speed Internet using Google Loon's balloon technology," said Samaraweera, who is also IT minister. Officials said local Internet service providers will have access to the balloons, reducing their operational costs.