Google teams with French balloon experts to bring Internet to rural areas

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Dec. 13 (UPI) -- Google is teaming up with the French space agency CNES for their project to get Internet to poor and rural communities.

Google's endeavor, Project Loon, is meant to utilize a fleet of balloons that will carry devices transmitting wireless Internet to poor and rural communities. CNES announced Thursday they will be teaming up with Google to "pool resources" for the project.

The balloons will fly over 11 miles above ground in the stratosphere and use solar panels to power the Internet-beaming devices.

"Internet connectivity can improve lives, but more than 4 billion people still don't have access today," said Google's Vice President, Mike Cassidy. "No single solution can solve such a big, complex problem. That's why we're working with experts from all over the world, such as CNES, to invest in new technologies like Project Loon that can use the winds to provide internet to rural and remote places."

The project was announced by Google in mid-2013, and began with the launch of 30 of the balloons in the Canterbury region of New Zealand where 50 people were able to connect to the Internet with them.

Google claims the Internet connection will be strong enough to stream videos.