Google has a laser solution to your internet problem.
While Elon Musk is busy blanketing Earth with satellites, Google just pulled out a laser gun. Alphabet, the parent company of Google, recently spun out Taara Lightbridge, a new internet service that hopes to provide high-speed internet to Africa’s 860 million population without reliable internet service.
Unlike Elon Musk’s Starlink, which relies on satellites to provide internet services, Taraa uses lasers to blast the internet through the air. Think of it as an invisible fiber cable in the sky: instead of transmitting light through glass fibers, Taraa uses a technology called Free Space Optical Communication (FSOC) which allows it to send narrow beams of light through the air, achieving speeds up to 20 gigabytes per second (Gbps) over distances of up to 20 kilometers.
The internet service provider (ISP), which is currently in its testing phase, is operational across 12 countries globally and plans to scale its operation across Tanzania, Kenya, Zimbabwe, and Nigeria.
Unlike Starlink, which is useful in remote villages, disaster zones, and off-grid locations, Taara is not built as a last-mile solution. It is designed to support the existing infrastructure of other ISPs and telcos, bridging gaps where laying fiber is difficult or impossible (e.g., across rivers or rugged terrain). While Starlink is direct-to-consumer, Taara partners with ISPs and telcos to support existing networks. Taara’s model is also potentially cheaper to deploy at scale.
While Starlink relies on hardware that costs an arm and a leg, Taara is betting on cheaper, ground-based infrastructure. Its free-space optical tech shoots light beams across up to 20 km. The catch? It needs a clear line of sight, so rain, fog, or a tall tree can ruin your Zoom call.
In the end, Africa doesn’t need to pick a side. It needs an internet that works—laser, satellite, or whatever gets the job done.
