“Slow”, “unreliable”, and “expensive” often is the chorus of the song about internet access in Africa. A new tune is about to hummed however: broadband by weather balloons.

  Tim Anyasi is an engineer originally from Nigeria and is, (his words) “a serial entrepreneur”. His company Space Loon has partnered with Space Data to bring Broadband to West Africa via weather balloons, a reliable yet cost effective way to not only connect Africa to the world but also provide economic development to some of its citizens. According to a report released in June by the World Bank, access to the internet correlates to economic development. The report came several months after the BBC released a study on broadband access around the world. BBC reporters visited 8 countries including the United States, Japan, South Korea and Kenya, the only African nation to place in the BBC study. At the time of the reports, Kenya was being prepared to receive broadband cables by Seacom, a privately funded venture which builds, owns and operates submarine fiber-optic cables connecting communication carriers in the South and East Africa. Seacom is also the first company to provide broadband internet access to East Africa, which previously relied on slow and expensive satellite connections. The cost, so far, to link Africa to the rest of the world? 2.4 billion dollars.

  Broadband by weather balloon, Anyasi asserts, is cheaper than broadband by cable and by cell towers. The technology is already in use by the US military in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as in some southern US states. It was even used during Hurricaine Katrina.

  Broadband by weather balloon, Anyasi asserts, is cheaper than broadband by cable and by cell towers. The technology is already in use by the US military in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as in some southern US states. It was even used during Hurricaine Katrina.

  Here’s how it works: a balloon is filled with lighter than air hydrogen gas, attached with electronic equipments and set free to travel upwards at 1000 feet per minute, stopping between 80,000-100,000 feet, 3 times the zones of passenger aircraft. This system, called a SkySite®, is patented technology which can do anything a satellite can do, just at lower cost. The Skysite network works by transmitting telemetry data from the balloon platforms to remote ground stations (RGS), then to the network operations center (NOC).

  The balloons that make up the SkySite network are launched from airport hangars every day at sunset, and take about an hour and a half to reach altitude in near space-- about 20 miles up — higher than airplanes fly, but lower than satellites. They last about 24hrs and are parachuted down. Each unit mission cost just a few thousand dollars, compared to the cost to send a satellite to space or a submarine to sea to lay fiber optic cables.

  In this interview, conducted via SMS in New York City, Anyasi discusses broadband by weather balloon and the future of the internet in Africa.