African cell

Non-rigid airships (Blimps) to carry wireless signals in Africa 

Google is reported to be setting up a very exciting project in sub-Saharan Africa.  Rather than wear the huge cost of building cellular networks across vast (sometimes war-torn) land masses Google is using Blimps (non-rigid airships) to carry the wireless signals needed for a mobile network.

The devices will of course be Android, primarily low spec phones rather than the latest and greatest.  The radio frequencies will be harvested from so-called white space TV channels - frequencies normally reserved for TV but not actually in use in these countries.

Does Google want to compete with the likes of Vodafone in these emerging markets?  Hard to say but there are millions of potential new customers out there and it looks like their first encounter with mobile technology is going to be Android.

Blimps to carry wireless signals in Africa (Wired)

Google's Blimp network (theRegister)