Less than two weeks after being spun off as a standalone business, Alphabet Inc.’s internet balloon company Loon LLC has landed its first paying customer: African mobile provider Telkom Kenya.

Under the deal Loon, formerly a part Alphabet’s and before that Google LLC’s experimental X division, will deploy a system of balloons to beam high-speed internet access to rural and remote areas in Kenya that before now mostly haven’t had access.

The technology involved uses high-altitude balloons that operate as inflatable cell towers. In this case, Telkom Kenya beams wireless internet signals to a Loon balloon, which works as a relay across an area below it.

The balloons are solar-powered, allowing them to remain aloft for upwards of 100 days and reside at 60,000 feet, well above commercial air traffic, providing coverage to an area of 5,000 square kilometers, or 3,106 square miles.

This being 2018, the balloons exclusively offer 4G LTE access, although Loon is looking at adding 5G support in the future.

“Our path to success as a company is through providing value to mobile network partners like Telkom Kenya and helping them extend their reach to places where ground-based infrastructure can’t go,” Loon Chief Executive Officer Alastair Westgarth explained on Medium. “At the end of the day, Loon is providing an infrastructure solution  —  it just happens to be 60,000 feet in the air, on the edge of space.”

Loon’s first commercial contract could be arguably described as a baby step, but it’s a step in the right direction given that other high-altitude internet access projects, such as Facebook Inc.’s internet drone division, have fallen by the wayside.

Photo: Loon