Internet users can access free Wi-Fi connections across Sri Lanka by March 2016 — thanks to a technology from search engine giant Google.
The broadband service will be provided with the aid of Google loon, a technology which provides internet to large areas using high-altitude balloons, Sri Lanka’s Daily Mirror reported.
The agreement in this regard was reached following a discussion held by State Minister for Defence Ruwan Wijewardene with Chamath Palihapitiya, a successful Silicon Valley entrepreneur and considered as the richest Sri Lankan in the world.
Palihapitiya and several ministers later met President Maithripala Sirisena to present a report on the new technology.
With the instant approval of the president, an agreement between the state-owned Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) and Google was signed at the prime minister’s house in Colombo on Tuesday.
Google Vice President Mike Cassidy and Information and Communication Technology Agency CEO Muhuthan Canagay signed the agreement to introduce Raven Aerostar balloon technology through which the entire country will be made a Wi-fi zone.
IANS
