Google now has an actual telecom partner for Project Loon

Google’s ambitious plan to fill the skies with internet is suddenly looking way more feasible as a reality: the search giant now has a commercial cellular partner working on the project in Australia. The Guardian reports that Google is teaming up with Australia’s Telstra carrier to launch Loon’s biggest test flights yet. The new trials will see 20 balloons fly over western Queensland during December, beaming 4G-like signal down to Earth, 20km below. In the new collaboration, Telstra will offer up base stations to communicate with the balloons.

Google is bringing its audacious internet-transmitting balloons to Australia. The company will test-fly 20 balloons in western Queensland in December in partnership with Telstra. It’s the latest step in Project Loon, Google’s plan to beam internet to remote parts of the world via helium balloons that circle the globe on stratospheric winds. The balloons carry antennas that can beam 4G-like signals to homes and phones 20km below. For the trial, Telstra will supply base stations to communicate with the balloons and access to space on the radio spectrum. It follows initial trials above Christchurch in New Zealand in June last year. Google said at the time it was drawn to the area’s favourable stratospheric conditions. The company’s ultimate goal is to have a ring of balloons circling the Earth, bringing internet to the estimated two-thirds of people who are presently unwired.