Emergency restoration is one application for many communications platforms, including Google’s Loon, using free-floating balloons. That was proven when Hurricane Maria destroyed the island’s electrical grid, and therefore its mobile and fixed communications capabilities.
Eventually, we will find out whether such wireless access networks, and others, such as constellations of low earth orbit satellites, such as planned by SpaceX, OneWeb, TeleSat, O3b Networks, Theia Holdings and LeoSat, can provide a more-permanent solution for gigabit internet access and communications across many rural and some urban areas globally.
Facebook also has high hopes for use of unmanned aerial platforms as well.
The point is that the notion there is “less competition” for consumer internet access is likely to be proven wrong. Competition will heat up, even if many decry the fixed network duopoly or the mobile oligopoly. Those are not the only future choices. Private access networks, networks using a substantial amount of unlicensed or lower-cost shared spectrum as well as networks building from “inside out” (up from localized Wi-Fi to wide area coverage) are coming.
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