Google parent company Alphabet, Airtel to bring affordable internet to Indian villages – Times of India

Google parent company Alphabet and Bharti Airtel are linking up to provide high-speed internet to remote villages in India by using beams of light, a report has said. The project, known as Taara, is part of Alphabet’s innovation lab called X.
What is Taara?
Taara project started in 2016 after Google’s attempt to provide internet via balloons, under project Loon, ran into problems due to high costs, news agency Reuters cited company executives as saying.
According to Mahesh Krishnaswamy, who leads Taara, things are progressing better with the project. Taara executives and Airtel are moving toward the large-scale deployment of the technology in India.

Taara has also struck deals with internet provider Bluetown in India. The project is already under development in 13 countries, including Australia, Kenya and Fiji.
“We are trying to be one of the cheapest and the most affordable place where you would be able to get dollar per gigabyte to the end consumers,” Krishnaswamy was quoted as saying.
Taara better than Loon
According to the company, Taara’s machine is the size of a traffic light that beam the laser carrying the data. In simpler terms, Taara’s beam provides fibre-optic internet without cables.

“Taara is moving more data every single day than Loon did in its entire history,” Astro Teller, who leads X, was quoted as saying.
For its part, Airtel will use these machines to build communications infrastructure in remote areas, for example, in Osur village near Chennai.
“Osur will be receiving high-speed internet for the first time this summer,” said Krishnaswamy, who visited his childhood village for the installation of Taara equipment.
“There are hundreds of thousands of these villages across India. I can’t wait to see how this technology can come handy to bring all of those people online,” he was quoted as saying.

What Airtel has to say
Randeep Sekhon, who is Airtel’s chief technology officer, said Taara will also help deliver faster internet service in urban areas in developed countries.
He highlighted that the technology is less expensive as compared to burying fibre-optic cables. “I think this is really disruptive,” he was quoted as saying.
Google invested $700 million for a 1.28% stake in Bharti Airtel last year. Taara’s partnership with Airtel is separate from the Google investment, the publication noted.