X, a subsidiary of Alphabet, has signed a deal with an Indian state to offer internet connectivity that it describes as " fiber optic cable, but without the cable." The company hopes that free space optical communications (FSOC) technology will form the spine of high-bandwith internet in southeast India.

Andhra Pradesh is currently co-home to Hyderabad, one of India's most influential tech cities. The state offers its residents some of the cheapest broadband access in the world, and though India's internet connectivity numbers have grown substantially in recent years, many, especially rural populations, are still without regular high-speed access.

Andhra Pradesh will lose Hyderabad in 2024 due to the creation of a new Indian state, lowering its overall connectivity. The state wants to help 12 million households and thousands of government organizations and businesses get broadband by 2019.

Working with AP State FiberNet, a telecom company owned entirely by the Andhra Pradesh government, X will build two thousand FSOC links, which use beams of light to deliver fast and reliable connectivity over long distances. "And because there’s no cable, this means there’s none of the time, cost, and hassle involved in digging trenches or stringing cable along poles," says Baris Erkman, FSOC lead at X in a Medium post. "FSOC boxes can simply be placed kilometers apart on roofs or towers, with the signal beamed directly between the boxes to easily traverse common obstacles like rivers, roads and railways." Indian employees will work with X to determine the best possible locations for FSOC implementation.

Alphabet developed this technology while working on Project Loon, a mission that hopes to spread Internet access through balloons. Initially, FSOC technology was being used to allow the balloons to communicate with each other. After successfully transferring a copy of the 1985 comedy Real Genius over 100 kilometers between balloons using FSOC lasers, X started to wonder if the technology could be applied more terrestrially.

Source: X

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