Alphabet’s Project Loon stratospheric balloon. Photo: Alphabet.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has granted Google parent company Alphabet an experimental license to deploy a new balloon-based connectivity service in Puerto Rico. Nearly three weeks after Hurricane Maria decimated Puerto Rico’s already dilapidated infrastructure, telecommunications providers on the island continue to struggle with a lack of power and working telephone lines. Alphabet intends to use its Project Loon balloons to help restore cell reception for civilians.

Read more at the LA Times