I think the basic idea here ,is for google to learn about the wireless industry from the inside out, and to start create the basics(brand, customer support,etc) needed for a big business in this field.
That together with other technical innovations google is talking about could, in a later stage let google offer an attractive service - or push the carriers to do so, and thus lower wireless costs.
As for what those technical stuff , few possible ideas:
1. A wifi bandwidth exchange, that could let wifi access point owners compete and charge for bandwidth, and that including monitoring and quality assuarance for customers.
2. Offering small business a wifi access point that includes some marketing incentives and free software(maybe POS, etc) in order to entice them to provide wifi bandwidth.
3. There are few companies offering wifi based backhauls at speeds of 300-1000 mbit/sec which could solve the access issues of those wifi access point providers. An alternative technology for this would be 60ghz smart antenna - and google bought alpental technologies, a startup that does this sort of thing.
4. Let phones support dynamic roaming based on price and quality.
5. I think in certain areas - like rural areas, google loon can play an important part.
6. Maybe with those changes, google can achieve a low enough bandwidth costs , that it could offer a basic plan for free - which will solve the marketing problem and subsidize with ads and selling extra bandwidth. But i'm leaning less towards the free plan, because google is interested in mobile video catching on.
Your first point hinges on using existing infrastructure which even within the US is a questionable situation. Being at the mercy of the infrastructure, where it exists at all, greatly limits the value they can create - a project on Kickstarter could achieve the same result.
I'm skeptical about your second point too as many businesses can afford internet connections, especially if there are any advantages to be had sharing them publicly.
Your final point, it is hard to imagine google caring to offer western audiences free internet. This is a very incremental benefit to a modern country, something like 87% of the USA [1] may already be online.
I think this is practice for doing it globally where internet can be very niche.
I read some article about bandwidthX which is a wifi bandwidth exchange. And the estimate there was that wireless providers could get around $5 gigabyte.That's far above internet connection charges, and together with the other benefits i mentioned could be a decent reason for businesses(at least in dense traffic areas) to install this. As for the demand side, it's hard to determine that, but i assume it could be considerable , especially if video is involved.
And if they succeed in building infrastructure that way, that's the whole game.
The part about the free wireless,yes 87% of the u.s. is online, but with regards to mobile internet, maybe some people prefer a zero bill, and in general zero(even with an option to premium) is a good marketing technique. But that's just one option.
You could be right - maybe they're just trying to fix a broken system of shitty download limits, there's precedence with their gigabit fiber addressing a political situation.
I hope it's for the whole world, in addition to their Loon project you mentioned they also made a billion dollar investment in SpaceX to prepare for a multi-planet internet - http://www.theverge.com/2015/1/19/7853099/google-spacex-fund..., they're looking globally and interplanetary, one already-connected country seems like such a tiny goal.
That together with other technical innovations google is talking about could, in a later stage let google offer an attractive service - or push the carriers to do so, and thus lower wireless costs.
As for what those technical stuff , few possible ideas:
1. A wifi bandwidth exchange, that could let wifi access point owners compete and charge for bandwidth, and that including monitoring and quality assuarance for customers.
2. Offering small business a wifi access point that includes some marketing incentives and free software(maybe POS, etc) in order to entice them to provide wifi bandwidth.
3. There are few companies offering wifi based backhauls at speeds of 300-1000 mbit/sec which could solve the access issues of those wifi access point providers. An alternative technology for this would be 60ghz smart antenna - and google bought alpental technologies, a startup that does this sort of thing.
4. Let phones support dynamic roaming based on price and quality.
5. I think in certain areas - like rural areas, google loon can play an important part.
6. Maybe with those changes, google can achieve a low enough bandwidth costs , that it could offer a basic plan for free - which will solve the marketing problem and subsidize with ads and selling extra bandwidth. But i'm leaning less towards the free plan, because google is interested in mobile video catching on.