How to build a World-Wide Wi-Fi
The future of wireless connectivity is global and zero-carbon
The quest for global wireless internet and telecommunications coverage has intensified in recent years, with various companies vying to provide services to even the world’s most remote regions. Each method — whether it involves low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites, medium Earth orbit (MEO) satellites, geostationary satellites, unmanned airships or balloons, or ground-based communication towers — has its own set of advantages and challenges. With constellations of satellites already delivering wireless internet services today, we are on the path to having some form of global wireless internet over the next decade.
The prospect of global wireless internet and telecommunciations access to all of humanity, particularly to the world’s poorest people, has the potential to drive significant socioeconomic change and lift billions out of poverty. Currently there are approximately 5.35 billion people with internet access, leaving approximately 2.75 billion people in the digital dark. Access to the internet and wireless communications can empower the most disadvantaged communities by providing unprecedented access to educational resources, health information, and e-government services, thereby reducing informational poverty and enabling more informed decision-making. It also opens up new opportunities for micro-entrepreneurship and remote work, which are crucial in regions with limited local employment options.
In Kenya, the widespread availability of affordable mobile smartphones and high speed wireless networks has catalyzed a remarkable transformation, making the country a global leader in electronic payments. Mobile phones have not only facilitated communication across the country but have also enabled access to mobile banking services, which have been crucial in financial inclusion. Services like M-PESA, a mobile-based money transfer and micro-financing service, have revolutionized how Kenyans carry out financial transactions. This has empowered even the rural and lower-income populations by giving them a platform to save, transfer money, and access loans without the need for traditional banking infrastructure. Consequently, Kenya’s embrace of mobile technology and e-payment systems has boosted economic activity, reduced barriers to economic entry, and enhanced daily convenience for millions of its citizens.
Another example is in India, where access to inexpensive mobile smartphones and wireless networks have significantly contributed to poverty alleviation by enhancing financial inclusion, improving agricultural practices, and expanding market access for small businesses. Through mobile banking, individuals in remote areas can perform financial transactions and access services like micro-loans and insurance. Farmers utilize smartphones for real-time data on weather and market prices, boosting crop yields and income. Additionally, e-commerce platforms enable small entrepreneurs to reach broader markets, enhancing their economic opportunities and facilitating growth. While many inequities still remain, these advancements have collectively empowered previously marginalized communities and driven economic development.
Internet connectivity allows for greater participation in the digital economy and can facilitate social mobility by leveling the playing field. This connectivity can also enhance communication, helping to unite dispersed families and communities. However, such initiatives must be accompanied by efforts to improve digital literacy so that these communities can fully utilize and benefit from the internet. Several studies have shown that access to the internet, often via an inexpensive smartphone, gives a significant economic boost to the world’s poor. The transformative potential of universal wireless internet access, if harnessed responsibly, could significantly contribute to reducing global inequalities and promoting inclusive economic growth.
The urgency of developing a zero-carbon and regenerative global wireless infrastructure cannot be overstated, as the digital sector currently contributes significantly to global carbon emissions, primarily through energy-intensive data centers, network operations, and device manufacturing. Transitioning to a sustainable wireless internet involves powering these systems with renewable energy and adopting energy-efficient technologies and designs across the board — from server farms cooled by natural methods to advanced networking equipment that minimizes energy consumption. Such changes are essential for mitigating the environmental impact of the expanding digital footprint.
Furthermore, a regenerative approach includes the circular economy principles in hardware production, promoting recycling, reusing, and reducing the materials used. Embracing these initiatives helps combat climate change, reduces environmental degradation, and ensures the digital revolution supports global sustainability goals. This transition is necessary for the internet and humanity to have a future.
Below, I will analyze the various technologies that could deliver high-speed wireless internet to every place on Earth, with the requirements that it must be accessible, equitable, and zero-carbon.
Ground-based communication towers
The most traditional method of delivering wireless internet is through a grid of ground-based communication towers. This method is highly effective in densely populated areas but becomes economically and logistically challenging in rural or remote areas due to the vast distances and difficult terrain. Ground-based towers offer low latency (“latency” refers to the delay before data is sent or received) and high speeds but require significant infrastructure, such as roads and power supplies, which may not be available in remote locations. Nonetheless, ground-based towers are one possible option for global internet.
To align with a zero-carbon, regenerative initiative, these towers could be powered by renewable energy sources such as solar panels, wind turbines, and geothermal or hydroelectric energy where available. The network infrastructure could also leverage decentralized, blockchain-based technologies for enhanced security, user privacy, and autonomous operation. This decentralized structure would not only distribute data more efficiently but also democratize access to information, maintaining resilience against single points of failure and promoting sustainable internet access on a global scale.
Implementing a global mesh network with a 10 km x 10 km grid (about the range of low-band 5G signals) of wireless communication towers, including floating buoy towers for aquatic coverage, to deliver high-speed wireless internet and telecommunication services would be an ambitious engineering feat. Such a network would require approximately 51,000 towers, given the Earth’s surface area of about 510 million square kilometers. Each tower and buoy would need to be equipped with advanced communication technology capable of both receiving and transmitting signals to neighboring nodes to create a seamless mesh network. This approach would ensure redundancy and robust connectivity, with each node covering roughly 100 square kilometers.
To get greater coverage with fewer nodes, we have to take to the skies.
Uncrewed balloons
Projects like Google’s Loon (now defunct) utilized high-altitude balloons positioned in the stratosphere to create an aerial wireless network. These systems are significantly cheaper to deploy than satellites and can be maneuvered by adjusting altitudes to catch different wind currents. However, maneuvering high-altitude balloons like those used in Project Loon is challenging and imprecise because their navigation relies heavily on varying wind speeds and directions at different altitudes.
Project Loon was canceled primarily because creating a cost-effective and sustainable business model was difficult. The emergence of more economical and scalable alternatives, such as satellite internet technologies, made the balloon-based approach less competitive. While balloons have lower latency than satellites, they are difficult to maneuver and must be replaced more frequently.
Uncrewed airships
Advanced airships like the Aeros Aeroscraft and Atlant Cargo Airship, which feature rigid bodies and variable buoyancy internal gas chambers, present a promising platform for creating uncrewed airship internet relay stations capable of remaining in the stratosphere for extended periods. These airships can adjust their buoyancy in real time without releasing gases or taking on outside air, allowing for precise altitude control and stable positioning, which is crucial for maintaining reliable communication links.
By operating in the stratosphere, these airships would avoid most weather disturbances and could potentially provide consistent, uninterrupted internet coverage to people and ground stations below. Their ability to stay aloft for years at a time without the need for frequent landings for refueling or maintenance makes them an excellent alternative or complement to satellite networks, particularly in regions where satellite deployment is limited by cost or regulatory issues.
Airships could achieve net-zero operations more quickly than other technologies by incorporating renewable energy and gains in systems efficiencies. Equipped with solar panels across their expansive surfaces, these airships can directly generate power for their onboard systems from sunlight. Hydrogen fuel cells and variable buoyancy systems using hydrogen gas could form an integrated hydrogen energy, storage, and flight system. Additionally, using energy-efficient propulsion and communication technologies could minimize their energy requirements. By designing these airships to operate autonomously and sustainably in the stratosphere, they would contribute minimally to carbon emissions, aligning with broader environmental goals while providing essential services. Moreover, airships could be refurbished, upgraded, and recycled, aligning with the requirements of a circular economy.
To calculate the number of advanced uncrewed airships required to provide wireless communications worldwide, one must consider the coverage area of each airship. Assuming an airship at an altitude of approximately 18,288 meters (60,000 feet) that is quasi-stationary can effectively cover a radius of about 360 kilometers, the area covered by one airship would be approximately 407,150 square kilometers. The Earth’s total surface area is about 510 million square kilometers, and thus approximately 1,253 airships would be needed for complete global coverage. This estimate assumes optimal conditions and uniform distribution, which would be adjusted for geographic obstacles and overlapping coverage to ensure continuous connectivity. Nonetheless, this is far fewer nodes compared to approximately 51,000 ground-based towers for the same coverage area.
To expand our coverage further, we have to go higher, beyond Earth’s atmosphere.
Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites
LEO satellites operate at altitudes between 500 and 2,000 kilometers above the Earth. Their proximity to the surface allows for lower latency and potentially higher speeds compared to satellites in higher orbits. Companies like SpaceX, with its Starlink project, and OneWeb are deploying thousands of small satellites to create a dense network capable of delivering high-speed internet across the globe. The primary advantage of LEO satellites is their low latency, which is crucial for real-time applications such as video calls and online gaming.
While Starlink and OneWeb represent significant advances in space-based internet technology, they face several challenges. One major issue for both services is the environmental impact of launching large numbers of satellites, including potential space debris and the atmospheric effects of rocket launches. This space debris can increase the risk of collisions in orbit, posing hazards to crewed and uncrewed spacecraft. Additionally, the proliferation of satellites has raised concerns among astronomers about light pollution and interference with astronomical observations, potentially obstructing scientific observations of the cosmos.
From a technical standpoint, both networks face challenges in scaling up their infrastructure while maintaining consistent service quality, especially in densely populated or geographically challenging areas. Economically, the initial and operational costs are substantial, and it remains to be seen how affordable these services will be for end users, particularly in lower-income regions where such services are most needed. Lastly, regulatory hurdles and spectrum management also pose significant challenges, as both companies must navigate complex global regulations to provide services in different countries.
The number of LEO satellites required to provide global wireless internet coverage depends on several factors, including the orbital altitude, the footprint of each satellite, and the specific architecture of the satellite constellation. You might think that you’d need far fewer LEO satellites than airships, because of LEO’s higher vantage point. However, airships can remain quasi-stationary, while LEO satellites must fly at high speeds to maintain orbit. This makes it harder to maintain signals, and requires massive redundancy.
For example, Starlink plans to deploy about 12,000 satellites in its initial phases and has sought approval for up to 30,000 additional satellites to enhance coverage and capacity. These satellites orbit at altitudes ranging from approximately 340 km to 1,200 km. The constellation is in constant motion at speeds of around 27,000 kph, and thus is designed with overlapping coverage to ensure continuous global connectivity, including densely populated areas and remote regions.
In general, achieving global coverage typically requires a constellation of several hundred to several thousand satellites arranged in various orbital planes to ensure that there are always satellites in view from any point on Earth. The exact number can vary based on the specific technical specifications of the satellites, such as their beam width, the technology used for ground-satellite communications, and the desired quality of service. Additionally, more satellites must be deployed to support more users and maintain fast network speeds, making scalability challenging and expensive.
Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) satellites
MEO satellites operate at altitudes between 2,000 and 35,786 kilometers and balance coverage area and latency. They are often used for navigation systems like GPS. Regarding internet delivery, MEO satellites can cover larger areas than LEO satellites with fewer units, but they suffer from higher latency, though it is still lower than geostationary satellites. Their deployment and maintenance costs are significant, but they offer a more manageable constellation size than LEO satellites.
The number of MEO satellites required to provide global wireless internet coverage is generally fewer than those needed for a LEO constellation due to their higher altitude, which allows each satellite to cover a more significant portion of the Earth’s surface while flying at far slower speeds. For a practical example, the Global Positioning System (GPS), which operates in MEO but for navigation rather than internet services, consists of about 24 operational satellites in six orbital planes, ensuring global coverage with redundancy. For internet service, a similar or slightly larger constellation could provide comprehensive global coverage, depending on the specific altitude, the beam width of the satellite antennas, and the technology used to manage the data throughput and handoff between satellites.
As a rough estimate, a constellation of around 20 to 50 MEO satellites could be sufficient to achieve global coverage if they are strategically placed in various orbital planes to optimize coverage and connectivity. The further satellites orbit from the Earth, the slower their relative speed, making it easier for MEO satellites to maintain wireless connections than the much faster LEO satellites. The exact number would depend on the specifics of the network design, including the required data speeds, latency, and the ability to handle high traffic volumes, all of which influence the satellite payload and orbital configuration.
Geostationary and Geosynchronous satellites
Geostationary satellites orbit at an altitude of 35,786 kilometers directly above the equator, maintaining a fixed position relative to the Earth. This allows continuous coverage of specific areas, making them ideal for weather forecasting, television broadcasting, and broadband internet. Their high altitude, however, results in higher latency, typically around 600 milliseconds, which can hinder the performance of latency-sensitive applications. Geosynchronous satellites have similar orbits but are not fixed over a point on the equator. They are less commonly used for internet service due to the movement relative to the Earth’s surface.
Typically, only three to five satellites are needed to deliver global wireless internet coverage using geostationary satellites. Since they maintain a fixed position relative to the ground, keeping communications contact is much easier than with LEO satellites that are flying as fast as 27,000 kph or MEO satellites that are flying as fast as 12,000 kph. The 35,786-kilometer altitude allows a single geostationary satellite to cover about one-third of the Earth’s surface. Therefore, three satellites can be strategically placed around the equator to provide nearly complete global coverage, except for the extreme polar regions where coverage can be weak or non-existent due to the curvature of the Earth and the satellite’s line-of-sight limitations.
Ensuring robust and uninterrupted service might require additional satellites as backups to fill any gaps in coverage, particularly in areas with high user demand or geographic obstructions. Thus, while three satellites might be the minimum for basic coverage, a few more might be deployed for enhanced service quality and network resilience. Combining geostationary satellites for middle-latitude coverage with polar-orbiting satellites for comprehensive high-latitude coverage could provide a synergistic approach to delivering global wireless internet access, ensuring seamless connectivity across all latitudes.
The carbon footprint of satellite internet
LEO, MEO, and geostationary satellite constellations each offer unique capabilities for global internet coverage. LEO satellites, orbiting between 500 to 2,000 kilometers, can provide low-latency, high-bandwidth service through a dense small satellite network that ensures continuous global coverage. MEO satellites, positioned between 2,000 and 35,000 kilometers, cover more expansive areas with fewer satellites, offering a balance between latency and coverage. At approximately 35,786 kilometers, geostationary satellites hover over a fixed point on the equator, providing stable, wide-reaching coverage ideal for broadcasting and rural internet services, albeit with higher latency. Satellites at any orbit can provide services using endless supplies of solar energy. The bulk of their carbon footprint lies in how we get them from Earth to space.
Achieving a net-zero carbon footprint across these systems involves addressing the environmental impacts of rocket launches necessary for deploying and maintaining these satellites. Companies like SpaceX have demonstrated that this could be mitigated by adopting more sustainable launch technologies, such as rockets powered by low-emission fuels like methane or hydrogen, or through innovations in reusable rocket technology. Nonetheless, rocket launches remain carbon intensive.
Future spaceplanes powered by green hydrogen scramjet engines could revolutionize space travel by offering a carbon-neutral and safer alternative to traditional rocket propulsion systems. By utilizing hydrogen as fuel and leveraging air-breathing engines capable of operating at hypersonic speeds, these spaceplanes could significantly reduce carbon emissions while enabling more frequent and cost-effective access to space. Once in orbit, these vehicles would switch to propulsion systems suited for the vacuum of space, such as electric ion thrusters or nuclear thermal propulsion. However, we are decades away from a zero-carbon spaceplane, so we will have to use rockets in the meantime.
The satellites themselves, along with the ground stations, could be designed using sustainable materials and energy-efficient technologies. Recycling programs for satellite and launch vehicle components would further reduce environmental impacts. Additionally, compensating for residual emissions through carbon capture initiatives or carbon credits might be necessary to approach a net-zero goal. The shift to net-zero operations for satellite internet services, regardless of the orbital regime, will hinge on significant technological advancements and stringent environmental regulatory compliance across the global aerospace industry. In the short term, carbon offsets will be needed for rocket launches until zero-carbon launch technologies are developed.
Towards a whole-Earth, zero-carbon wireless internet
Each of these technologies presents a possible pathway to global internet coverage, but they vary widely in cost, complexity, practicality, and environmental impact. A mesh network of at least 51,000 ground-based towers and water-based buoys powered by renewable energy would be challenging but potentially provide the fastest network speeds. New generations of advanced airships could provide high-speed internet at faster speeds than satellites and with a far easier path to zero-carbon. A fleet of around 1,250 green hydrogen and solar-powered airships could provide internet coverage over the whole planet.
LEO satellites are enticing due to their lower latency compared to higher-orbit satellites. However, the limitations and drawbacks of LEO satellites are significant, including the enormous numbers required for global coverage, their relatively short orbital lifetimes requiring frequent replacements, the risks of collisions and space junk in the increasingly crowded orbital space, and the significant costs associated with launching and maintaining thousands of satellites. Geostationary satellites provide stable, wide-covering networks but are limited by their high latency. MEO satellites offer a middle ground with moderate latency and coverage. However, all spacecraft face the challenge of carbon-intensive launch systems that are currently difficult to make carbon-zero, and more advanced launch systems, such as spaceplanes, are likely decades away. Until then, we must have carbon offsets for the energy used and emissions produced by rocket launches, and we should limit the number of launches globally until more sustainable technologies are developed.
In envisioning a future global wireless internet, a hybrid network that combines ground-based towers, advanced uncrewed airships in the stratosphere, and a combination of MEO, geostationary, and polar-orbiting satellites emerges as a robust and comprehensive solution. Ground-based towers would provide reliable connectivity in densely populated areas and serve as anchor points for the wider network. Advanced uncrewed airships operating in the stratosphere would complement this by offering flexible and high-altitude coverage, particularly in remote or underserved regions, while MEO satellites would ensure global coverage with moderate latency and reliability. Geostationary satellites would provide stable, wide-reaching coverage ideal for broadcasting and rural internet services while polar-orbiting satellites would enhance coverage at higher latitudes.
For the solution to be truly accessible and sustainable, we must look deeper than just the technology. To promote equity and access in wireless services for all of humanity, particularly the world’s poorest people, governments, non-profit organizations, B-Corps, and community cooperatives should own and operate these systems, thereby countering the monopolistic practices and profit-driven motives of the corporate tech giants. These entities can leverage their unique community-focused missions and flexible organizational structures to innovate and implement solutions that address local needs while ensuring transparency and user empowerment. Access should be extremely cheap or free for the global poor, and we should see this not as a free handout but as an investment in humanity’s collective future. A global, wireless, equitable, and zero-carbon internet has the transformative power to break down barriers, foster innovation, and empower everyone to participate fully in the digital age, shaping a future where all of humanity is sustainably interconnected.
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Satellite Communications 3rd Edition by Timothy Pratt and Jeremy E. Allnutt. Wiley Press, 2019.
Satellite Technology and Its Applications by P.R.K. Chetty. Self-published, 2023.
Future Fixed and Mobile Broadband Internet, Clouds, and IoT/AI by Toni Janevski. Wiley Press, 2024.
The economic impact of mobile broadband speed by Harald Edquist. Telecommunications Policy Volume 46, Issue 5, June 2022. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.telpol.2022.102351
Socio Economic Impact of Mobile Broadband in Kenya by Shola Sanni. GSMA Report, 2017. [link to pdf]
Airships could boost internet coverage and help close the digital divide in Africa — and beyond by Johnny Wood. World Economic Forum, January 26, 2022. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/01/airships-could-solve-digital-divide-internet/
