With around 83 percent of Puerto Rico currently without cell service, the US has granted Google’s parent company Alphabet an experimental license to bring connection back to the island using high-flying communications balloons. The idea is to use a fleet of solar-powered balloons fitted with communications gear to form networks in the stratosphere, where they provide connectivity to those on the ground below. If successful, this project could become a blueprint for how to restore communications in countries where such infrastructure has been knocked out.