The Kenyan government has given formal approval for Loon’s balloons to operate in the stratosphere above the country.

This is a critical step in Loon's efforts to provide service in Kenya on a sustained basis, with Alphabet's company to work with Telkom Kenya.

Loon will begin dispatching existing airborne balloons, as well as preparing new ones to launch from our launch sites in the United States, and navigating them to Kenya on the stratospheric winds 20km above Earth. This process takes time, and Loon expects it to be a number of weeks before Loon’s balloons arrive in Kenya. Once there, Loon will conduct the final stages of network integration testing with Telkom Kenya. Following that, the company will be able to begin providing service to Kenyans.

Loon’s deployment in Kenya has been in the works since Loon signed a contract with Telkom Kenya in July 2018. Since then, the company has been collaborating with both Telkom and the government to prepare for these operations. Given the global situation with COVID-19, Loon is working as fast as we can to deploy the Loon service in Kenya to help in the short-term, and establish sustainable operations that will continue to serve Kenyans for the long-term.