Broadband Balloons Take Off In The UK

from the they're-everywhere dept

A few weeks back we wrote about a company in the US that was looking to offer fixed-wireless broadband via a series of high-altitude blimps called stratelites. It appears the idea is catching on elsewhere, as well. Over in the UK, they're looking to launch a bunch of floating broadband spewing blimps, called aerostats. The difference here is that the aerostats are much lower to the ground, and appear to actually be tethered to the ground, to keep them in a stationary position. The tether would carry a fiber optic line to provide the bandwidth up and down from the aerostat. They say the system works great - but I still think there are a ton of business model questions around any such system, no matter how well it works.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  1. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 27 May 2003 @ 3:08am

    How about a revenue model for the police departmen

    Police departments have observation balloons to patrol neighborhoods, so why not hook up a wi-fi and sell it to the community? I can hear the techies screaming about "privacy", but most citizens are proud to support their local police department.


    link to this | view in thread ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.