Google’s parent company, Alphabet is aiming its focus on bringing the internet to remote areas using laser technology. Approximately 3 billion people worldwide live in areas with no internet connection and Alphabet is determined to provide access “not just to the next billion, but to the last billion.”
“In India where I grew up, a growing number of people are getting connected, but the existing infrastructure isn’t keeping up with the exponentially growing demand for data, said Mahesh Krishnaswamy, General Manager of Project Taara at X.
At the Moonshot Factory, formally known as X, Alphabet is working on its latest project named Taara.
Project Taara has been in the works for quite some time now, though its original venture into expanding internet access, Loon, was a bit of a flop financially speaking. The company tested out the use of stratospheric balloons designed to endure harsh conditions to create an affordable internet network granting more people internet access, but it just didn’t pan out as hoped. Innovation-wise, however, it was a building block toward Alphabet’s next technological breakthroughs.
Now, the Taara team is working alongside the Bharti Airtel telecommunications company to deploy new laser internet technology in India and several more countries including Australia, Kenya, and Fiji, as reported by Reuters.
“We are trying to be one of the cheapest and the most affordable place where you would be able to get dollar per gigabyte to the end consumers,” said Mahesh Krishnawamy.
What all does Taara do? The machine is a wireless optical communication device utilizing beams of light to provide high-speed, high-capacity connections over larger areas. With the help of Bharti Airtel, Taara will be deployed across the company’s networks to bring fast, affordable internet to rural and urban areas. It’s the laser version of traditional fiber connections and can reach speeds up to 20 gigabits per second.
“To create a link, Taara’s terminals search for each other, detect the other’s beam of light, and lock in like a handshake to create a high-bandwidth connection,” as described on X’s blog.
The Taara team has been partnered with Airtel since 2019 and is incredibly excited about the progress made to get more people online.