Google’s balloon-based wireless networks may not be a crazy idea

I find it funny how the starting assumption is that one of the smartest technology companies in history is clueless.

Technically the idea sounds perfectly reasonable to me. Wireless networking has the smallest equipment and capital footprint of all networking so it's by far the easiest to deploy in areas that don't have much existing infrastructure. Using free-floating blimps or aerostats seems like one of the simpler ways to put transmitters at sufficient altitude to increase coverage.

Additionally, from a business standpoint it may not seem like there's a lot of money in Africa but that's a very prejudiced sentiment, I think. Many parts of Africa are developing quickly, there is already money to be had there. Moreover, over the coming decades even more of Africa will develop. And by then Google will have the brand recognition, the connections, the good-will, and the operational experience to dominate the market providing services to a market of over a billion people.

Over the next several decades the economies of Africa will grow by trillions of dollars of GDP. With a comparatively modest initial investment Google can gain a foothold into providing services to those economies. This is a very smart strategic move, in my view.