Google conceived of a plan of using high-altitude balloons in stratosphere to bring internet access to rural and remote areas. However, the project was given up due to high costs. Google worked on laser internet technology in its innovation lab called X, which is nicknamed ‘Moonshot Factory’.

In the project, traffic-light sized machines beam laser carrying data, essentially fibre-optic data. The idea emerged from failed balloon internet project Loon. The balloon project too used lasers to connect data between balloons.

The project has been named Taara and is helping to link up internet in 13 countries, including Australia, Fiji and Kenya.

It will cost a dollar per gigabyte. Even in urban areas internet will be delivered faster since it is less expensive to beam data between buildings without burying cables. This is called moonshot composting.

Bharti Airtel may tie up with Google for this project in India.