Foreign, Telecommunications and IT Minister, Mangala Samaraweera, today announced ‘a historic initiative’ to cover the entire country with affordable high-speed internet in partnership with Google.

 

Using high altitude balloons Google Loon will cover every inch of Sri Lanka with seamless access to the internet.

 

Sri Lanka is now on its way to becoming the first country in the world to have universal internet coverage, a media release from the Ministry said.

 

The minister noted that "from this event onwards advertisements or headlines saying “Matara covered” or “Jaffna covered” will become a part of history." 

 

Samaraweera concluded his speech saying that he was "proud to declare that we are at the cusp of a reclaiming our heritage of being connected to each other and connected to the world. In a few months we will truly be able to say: Sri Lanka. Covered"

 

This initiative would not have been possible without the support of LotusFlare, whose chairperson is a visionary member of the Sri Lankan diaspora, Chamath Palihapitya, and Project RAMA, the media release also said.

 

Project Loon is a research and development project being developed by Google with the mission of providing Internet access to rural and remote areas. The project uses high-altitude balloons placed in the stratosphere at an altitude of about 32 km (20 mi) to create an aerial wireless network with up to 3G-like speeds.

 

Unofficial development on the project began in 2011 under incubation in Google X with a series of trial runs in California's Central Valley. The project was officially announced as a Google project on 14 June 2013.

 

On 16 June 2013, Google began a pilot experiment in New Zealand where about 30 balloons were launched in coordination with the Civil Aviation Authority from the Tekapo area in the South Island. In May-June, the first project in an area close to the equator was carried out in Brazil.