02 November 2023

World Mobile Group has launched its first telecoms aerostat in Mozambique. The infrastructure was deployed at an altitude of 11m near the Limpopo River and will later rise in altitude to provide internet access within a radius of 70km.

This first balloon will allow World Mobile to collect data sets using custom radio payloads. This data will serve as the basis for World Mobile to deploy other commercial aerostats in Mozambique, Africa, and other under-connected regions of the world.

World Mobile continues to expand across the African continent as part of its vision ‘to connect the unconnected’ throughout the world. The company launched its blockchain-based commercial telecommunications network on Tanzania’s Zanzibar archipelago in May 2023. In December 2021, it had already launched its internet balloons which later served as the backbone of its mobile network.

“Through our aerostats, we can cost-effectively bring internet access to millions of people who have been left behind by the digital divide,” said Micky Watkins, CEO of World Mobile.