Google’s Internet-beaming balloons are ready to take off on the next phase of their mission to deliver online access in regions where most people live offline. The balloons will begin hovering in the stratosphere above Indonesia in an expansion of the project. About 250 million people live on 17,000 islands in that part of Southeast Asia, although only 42 million have Internet access.

Google’s 2-year-old program “Project Loon” aims to change that by transmitting high-speed Internet signals from clusters of balloons floating about 60,000 feet above the Earth.

The Indonesian expansion follows extensive testing in New Zealand, Australia and remote areas in California and Brazil. Project Loon started in Google’s X lab for off-the-wall projects. The lab is now run by Google’s parent company, Alphabet Inc. Google co-founder Sergey Brin envisions Project Loon eventually creating millions of jobs around the world to raise the standard of living for now-impoverished people as they are able to get online.

Project Loon started in Google’s X lab for off-the-wall projects. The lab is now run by Google’s parent company, Alphabet Inc.

Alphabet frames Project’s Loon as a noble endeavour striving to get about 100 million currently unconnected people tapped into the vast reservoir of knowledge, entertainment and conveniences available online.

But it could also enrich Google by expanding the potential audience that can query its search engine, watch video on YouTube, correspond through Gmail and click on digital ads.

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Facebook has renamed Internet.org to ________?