Economic Times reports three problems, of which it says the spectrum issue is the hardest to address.
One of the primary concerns with the proposal is that the spectrum band required for the transmission is unavailable. According to DoT, Google has sought a band of 700 to 900 MHz, which is occupied by telecom service providers.
Union communications and IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad confirmed that there are technical glitches in Project Loon. “The proposed frequency band to be used in the Loon Project of Google is being used for cellular operations in India and it will lead to interference with cellular transmissions,” he said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.
The other concerns are related to security. While the civil aviation ministry fears that the balloons may interfere with flight paths should thus be monitored by Air Traffic Control (ATC), the home ministry has expressed fears of external surveillance through them. The defence ministry is concerned about the balloons floating over military establishments and coming in the way of military aircraft.
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