By Paresh Dave
由Paresh戴夫
OAKLAND, Calif. (Reuters) - Alphabet Inc is shutting down Loon after concluding the business, which offers balloons as an alternative to cell towers, is not commercially viable, Google's parent company said on Thursday.
路透加州奥克兰7月8日电- - -谷歌母公司周四表示，Alphabet公司在完成交易后将关闭Loon，该业务提供气球作为手机信号塔的替代品，在商业上不可行。
Founded in 2011, Loon aimed to bring connectivity to areas of the world where building cell towers is too expensive or treacherous using balloons the length of tennis courts and solar-powered networking gear.
Loon成立于2011年，其目标是将网络连接到世界上那些使用长度相当于网球场和太阳能网络设备的气球建造手机发射塔过于昂贵或危险的地区。
But the wireless carriers which Loon saw as buyers questioned the technical and political viability of the idea.
但被Loon视为买家的无线运营商质疑这一想法在技术和政治上的可行性。
"While we’ve found a number of willing partners along the way, we haven’t found a way to get the costs low enough to build a long-term, sustainable business," Loon CEO Alastair Westgarth said in a blog post.
Loon首席执行官阿拉斯泰尔•韦斯特加斯(Alastair Westgarth)在一篇博客文章中表示:“虽然我们在这一过程中找到了许多愿意合作的合作伙伴，但我们还没有找到一种将成本降低到足够低的方式来建立长期、可持续的业务。”
Rich DeVaul, a founder of the project who is no longer with Alphabet, said surging demand for mobile connectivity made towers cost-effective in more of the world than he had estimated a decade ago, diminishing the need for Loon.
该项目创始人之一、如今已不在Alphabet工作的里奇·德保罗(Rich DeVaul)表示，对移动连接的需求激增，使得基站在世界上更多地方的性价比超过了他10年前的估计，从而减少了对Loon的需求。
"The problem got solved faster than we thought," he said in an interview.
“问题的解决比我们想象的要快，”他在接受采访时说。
Westgarth said Loon's legacy would include developing helium balloons which last hundreds of days in the sky and communications equipment that can deliver cell coverage across an area 200 times larger than that reached by an average cell tower.
韦斯特加斯表示，Loon的遗产将包括开发能在空中持续数百天的氦气球，以及能够在比普通发射塔大200倍的范围内覆盖手机信号的通信设备。
However, a carrier would need several balloons at once, each would cost tens of thousands of dollars and last only about five months.
然而，一艘航空母舰将同时需要几个气球，每个气球将花费数万美元，并且只持续大约5个月。
Loon launched a pilot project in Kenya in 2020, years behind schedule after regulatory delays.
2020年，Loon在肯尼亚启动了一个试点项目，由于监管方面的延迟，该项目比计划晚了好几年。
Its partner, Telkom Kenya, said their joint service with Loon will run until March 1.
其合作伙伴Telkom Kenya表示，他们与Loon的联合服务将持续到3月1日。
"Over the coming months, the Loon team will work closely with Telkom to ensure the operations of the technology's pilot service are wrapped up safely and smoothly," Telkom said in a statement.
Telkom在一份声明中表示:“在未来几个月，Loon团队将与Telkom密切合作，以确保该技术的试点服务的运营能够安全、顺利地完成。”
The technology previously proved successful in short projects to provide cell coverage in Peru and Puerto Rico when cell towers were downed by natural disasters.
在过去的一些短期项目中，当秘鲁和波多黎各的基站被自然灾害摧毁时，这种技术被证明是成功的。
Loon sought contracts with countries and international organizations for future emergencies, but with little success.
Loon寻求与一些国家和国际组织签订合同，以应对未来的紧急情况，但收效甚微。
Loon said it may share its technology with carriers, governments or nonprofit groups aiming to bring high-speed internet to the last few places in the world.
Loon表示，它可能会与运营商、政府或非营利组织分享技术，这些组织的目标是将高速互联网推广到世界上最后几个地方。
The company employed 200 people as of 2019. It drew a $125 million investment that year from SoftBank’s HAPSMobile, which is working on floating cell equipment using drones.
截至2019年，该公司有200名员工。那一年，它从软银旗下的HAPSMobile获得了1.25亿美元的投资，该公司正在研究使用无人机的漂浮电池设备。
HAPSMobile declined to comment on the financial effect of Loon's shutdown but said it would "continue to work toward our goal of developing a commercial business".
HAPSMobile拒绝就Loon关闭的财务影响置评，但表示将“继续朝着发展商业业务的目标努力”。
Separately, companies backed by billionaire entrepreneurs, such as Elon Musk, Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos, continue to look at offering internet connections using satellites in near-Earth orbit.
另外，得到埃隆·马斯克(Elon Musk)、理查德·布兰森(Richard Branson)和杰夫·贝佐斯(Jeff Bezos)等亿万富翁企业家支持的公司，继续考虑利用近地轨道卫星提供互联网连接。
Alphabet has already closed some of what it calls its "other bets", or entities separate to Google, including one working on power-generating kites.
Alphabet已经关闭了一些所谓的“其他赌注”，即独立于谷歌的实体，包括一家致力于发电风筝的公司。
Its Wing business aims to commercialize goods delivery by drone.
该公司的Wing业务旨在实现无人机货物递送的商业化。
(Additional reporting by Duncan Miriri in Nairobi; editing by Peter Cooney, Gerry Doyle and Jason Neely)
(Duncan Miriri内罗毕补充报道;编辑:彼得·库尼，格里·道尔和杰森·尼利)