30 Project Loon internet balloons headed for Puerto Rico

With all of the issues going on in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, the FCC fast-tracked 60 x Project Loon internet ballons to fly over both countries for six months.

Alphabet is behind Project Loon, with Google's parent company pushing cellular data capabilities from the skies. Project Loon would return internet connectivity to countless residents. Project Loon was recently deployed in Peru after floods affected the city, with Alphabet teaming with Peruvian network Telefonica to help get the signals from the ground and allocate them into the right spectrum and services.

An Alphabet spokesperson told Wired: "Things are a little more complicated because we're starting from scratch. Loon needs be integrated with a telco partner's network-the balloons can't do it alone".

For those who have no idea what Project Loon is, the balloons provide internet access by "relaying communications between Alphabet's own ground stations connected to the surviving wireless networks, and users' handsets". Awesome tech, for a great cause, Alphabet.