Nepal’s Broadband Future : Google’s Project Loon and Facebook’s Aquila

Facebook’s Drone project dubbed ‘Aquila’ and Google’s ‘Project Loon’ are seemingly the future of the next generation broadband connection. Each with their own visions of connecting the world through a faster, reliable and secure network has been experimenting on it intensely.


Facebook claims that it will be able to deliver a 100 Gbps speed through its laser technology in the drones and radio communication to the patrons. On his Facebook page Zuckerberg wrote  "Aquila is a solar powered unmanned plane that beams down Internet connectivity from the sky. It has the wingspan of a Boeing 737, but weighs less than a car and can stay in the air for months at a time. We've also made a breakthrough in laser communications technology. We've successfully tested a new laser that can transmit data at 10 gigabits per second. That's ten times faster than any previous system, and it can accurately connect with a point the size of a dime from more than 10 miles away."

While on other hand Google X’s project LOOM uses high-altitude balloons placed in the stratosphere at an altitude of about 32 km (20 mi) to create an aerial wireless network with up to 3G-like speeds. The system aims to bring Internet access to remote and rural areas poorly served by existing provisions, and to improve communication during natural disasters to affected regions. The technology designed in the project could allow countries to avoid using expensive fiber cable that would have to be installed underground to allow users to connect to the Internet. Google feels this will greatly increase Internet usage in developing countries in regions such as Africa and Southeast Asia that can't afford to lay underground fiber cable. With these two tech giants working incessantly on these projects no wonder they will bring about a change in a decade or so.

 When it comes to Nepal, Nepal’s telecom sector is small but growing at a rapid rate. According to reports by April 2012, over 170 operators had been authorized to provide a wide range of telecom services, including two for basic telephony (Nepal Telecom and United Telecom Ltd) and two for mobile telephony (Nepal Telecom and Spice Nepal Pvt Ltd).

In addition, the licensing of a relatively large number of ISPs, combined with the liberalization of the VSAT data market, has created excellent conditions for the Internet to thrive in Nepal. Much of the users are concentrated in Kathmandu however, the Nepal Wireless Networking Project has already wirelessly connected seven remote mountain villages to the Internet, with plans to network twenty-one villages in all.With recent availability of the state-owned Nepal Telecom's nationwide WiMAX based WiFi hotspot services, the reach of Internet has even widened.

The two projects seem to be a better solution to Nepal’s geographical barrier problem in providing seamless connectivity at the remote locations of the country. The hills and mountains that acts as hurdle in expanding the country’s telecom services will be neutralized by the balloons and the drones placed at the high altitude.  The cost associated with setting up of towers at almost every hill and the cablings required for it are the main expenses of the telecom provider. Even with the installation of towers, it is very unlikely that people will be connected with the service all the time. Hence these two projects will definitely be a solution to all these difficulties as they can provide better connectivity, large number of subscribers and an unimaginable speed.

Broadband Internet Access in Nepal: Data Taken from Broadband as a foundation for Sustainable Development. See the Full Report From Here. 

However it doesn’t come with only benefits, these projects have many impediments. The projects are not yet ready to be deployed and it might take a long time to reach Nepal.  Even if it is available the cost associated with it, the skilled technicians required and installations are some of the key barriers. The project’s skilled labours and technicians need to be there or give trainings to other telecom engineers.
Nevertheless if there was an ideal Nepal with ideal systems, it would be very likely that Nepal would be connected by these systems.

About Author

Manjish Adhikari is currently pursuing his B.Tech degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering at JNTU, India. He loves writing about technical and literary articles in his free time. Follow his blog at : manjishadhikari.wordpress.com for more info