Free Wi-Fi across the island by 2016 as Google launches loon in SL

[Gibbs]

Another first for the region in communication tech pioneered by SL.. @Azizam @NGV-H

Free Wi-Fi across the island by 2016 ::: Dailymirror.lk ::: Breaking News

WIFI connections will be freely available throughout the country by March 2016 with the aid of Google loon, a technology under which a special kind of balloon named Raven Aerostar.

With the Honourable Prime Minister, other Ministers and Mike Cassidy, who is a Vice President at Google. We signed an agreement today to bring Project Loon (Loon for All – Project Loon – Google) to Sri Lanka, providing WiFI connectivity to all citizens.

Loon for All – Project Loon – Google

 

[Gibbs]

 

[OrionHunter]

I hope they do the same in India. Should be part of PM Modi's Digital India project.

 

[Gibbs]

I hope they do the same in India. Should be part of PM Modi's Digital India project.

SL already provides free WiFi hotspots in all major towns and public spaces but yes this technology will provide better coverage and access

Free WiFi Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka : Sri Lankan PM opens free Wi-Fi zones

 

[Gibbs]

Sri Lanka ties with Google for Internet beamed from balloons - Yahoo News Singapore

Sri Lanka teamed up on Tuesday with Google to bring high-speed Internet access to the island using balloons, aiming to become the first country in the region with complete coverage.

Foreign minister Mangala Samaraweera said officials signed an agreement with Google in the capital Colombo to launch the helium-filled, high-tech balloons above the Indian Ocean island in coming months.

Google announced Project Loon in 2013 aimed at delivering Internet connections to remote or rural areas worldwide using gear floating from thousands of the balloons.

"The entire Sri Lankan island - every village from (southern) Dondra to (northern) Point Pedro - will be covered with affordable high speed Internet using Google Loon's balloon technology," said Samaraweera, who is also IT minister.

Officials said local Internet service providers will have access to the balloons, reducing their operational costs.

Muhunthan Canagey, head of local authority the Information and Communication Technology Agency, said he expected Google to have finished sending up the balloons by next March.

"Service providers will be able to access higher speeds and improve the quality of their existing service once the balloon project is up and running," Canagey told AFP.

"We can also expect prices to come down," he said after he signed the agreement with Michael Cassidy, a Google vice president .

The balloons, once in the stratosphere, will be twice as high as commercial airliners and barely visible to the naked eye, Google has said.

Google plans to keep the balloons aloft in the stratosphere for 100 days, transmitting Internet signals to the ground, and with their movements guided by an algorithmic formula. Tests were carried out in New Zealand in 2013.

Official figures show there are 2.8 million mobile Internet connections and 606,000 fixed line Internet subscribers among Sri Lanka's more than 20 million population.

Sri Lanka became the first country in South Asia to introduce mobile phones in 1989 and the first to roll out a 3G network in 2004. It was also the first in the region to unveil a 4G network two years ago.

 

[Gibbs]

Google Loon project to cover Sri Lanka with 3G internet | Lanka Business Online

July 28, 2015 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s government and Google on Tuesday signed an agreement to cover the Island with 3G internet under ‘Google Loon project’.

Sri Lanka is the first country in the world to have Internet access covering the whole country with the government support, Google Vice President and Project Leader on GoogleX Project Loon, Mike Cassidy said.

Project Loon is the latest moonshot from Google[x]: balloon-powered Internet access.

It is a network of balloons traveling on the edge of space, designed to connect people in rural and remote areas, help fill in coverage gaps and bring people back online after disasters.

“With our system we use LTE which is a common protocol most of the telcos use around the world. So anyone with a smart phone would be able to get internet access. One of the key things we do is we partner with the local telcos. In New Zealand we partnered with Vodafone.” Cassidy said.

It is expected to place 13 balloons above Sri Lanka over the next few months (One balloon is expected to last over 100 days) and internet service providers will have to connect this network through these ‘floating towers’ which will ultimately reduce their transmission costs.

“Matara covered or Jaffna covered is now history. In a few months we will be able to say Sri Lanka covered,” addressing the signing ceremony Foreign, Telecommunications and IT Minister Mangala Samaraweera said.

“As a result of this agreement, the entire Sri Lankan island – every village from Dondra to Point Pedro – will be covered with affordable high speed internet using Google Loon’s balloon technology.” Samaraweera said.

The project is handled by ICTA with the collaboration of former Facebook executive Chamath Palihapitiya who now represents lotus flare, a leading mobile content provider.

 

[Jai_Hind]

Its warming to see Sri Lanka take another step to become techno friendly..... My question although is the service really going to be free, because the signal here travels through the balloon network from balloon to balloon, then to a ground-based station connected to an Internet service provider, then onto the global Internet, so who is the ground ISP here,..... Moreover are the local ISPs going to be ok with it, since it will drop a bomb on their business......

Whatever the business behind it is, undoubtly it is a success for technology....

 

[Gibbs]

Its warming to see Sri Lanka take another step to become techno friendly..... My question although is the service really going to be free, because the signal here travels through the balloon network from balloon to balloon, then to a ground-based station connected to an Internet service provider, then onto the global Internet, so who is the ground ISP here,..... Moreover are the local ISPs going to be ok with it, since it will drop a bomb on their business......

Whatever the business behind it is, undoubtly it is a success for technology....

It's not free mate.. The title is misleading (Quoted off local media) But at reasonable rates

 

[Gibbs]

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=896003373813038

 

[RPK]

So I will get free wifi signal. remembering old days to turn my yogi antanna to get Rupavagini TV station

 

[Gibbs]

So I will get free wifi signal. remembering old days to turn my yogi antanna to get Rupavagini TV station

Lucky bugger..

I have heard that Radio Ceylon was the favorite English channel across India and even certain parts of Pakistan on short wave pre television days

 

[Gibbs]

The Island

SLT Broadband launches first Terabyte Data package
August 7, 2015, 6:25 pm


Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT), recently launched the Terabyte Data package offering its broadband users the highest data volume given so far by an internet company in Sri Lanka.


Now SLT Broadband internet users are offered with up to 1225 Gigabytes or GBs (1.2 Terabyte or TBs) data volume per month. This includes two brand new packages "Web Inspire" & "Web Premier" offering 675 GB & 1225 GB respectively for attractive monthly rentals and is ideal for heavy internet users that include individuals or small and medium businesses.


"The company made these new high data volume packages available in the market to respond to the demand of internet users for more data volumes while experiencing ultra-fast SLT broadband internet access", SLT’s Chief Marketing Officer, Ajantha Seneviratne said.


SLT has also taken several initiatives in the recent past including significant enhancements to its internet speed of up to 16 Mbps and offering unmatched data bundles of up to 400 GBs for its existing package offerings.


Customers making use of or wishing to use SLT’s ultra-fast broadband internet via Fibre, LTE & ADSL can greatly benefit from the new unmatched high volume packages which can also be used for shared data for multiple devices.


Seneviratne explained that the company is giving the consumers a choice of the biggest ever broadband deals to suit every lifestyle. "We believe these options to larger audiences will help them to save expenses spent on internet access, especially because we offer up to Terabytes of data volume packages which can be shared among office colleagues and also be used on multiple devices".


He quoted cost savings, unmatched data bundles, shared data for multiple devices and uninterrupted high speed accesses as direct value creations to the SLT consumers.

 

[samv]

Wow, we have Sri Lanka Telecom's advertiser signed up to defence.pk forums. Who knew?

 

[Azizam]

It's not going to be free actually but the prices will be reduced and speed will increase.

 

[Godman]

It's not going to be free actually but the prices will be reduced and speed will increase.

Free wifi hotspots would increase around the country