Loon will work with Telkom Kenya to deliver the service.

“We will work very hard with Loon, to deliver the first commercial mobile service, as quickly as possible, using Loon’s balloon-powered Internet in Africa,” says Aldo Mareuse, Telkom’s CEO.

Loon’s balloons float at 60,000 feet. They are solar-powered and provide an LTE signal which transmits between the balloons and then to ground-based Internet stations.

Most of Kenya’s 45 million citizens live in rural areas without an Internet connection.