Taara becomes independent from Alphabet to expand light-based internet
Updated
Updated · Futura · May 2
Taara becomes independent from Alphabet to expand light-based internet
9 articles · Updated · Futura · May 2
The Mountain View company, spun off on 17 March 2025, operates in 12 countries with about 20 staff and is seeking outside investment and partnerships.
Its Lightbridge devices use focused light beams to send data up to 20km at 20 gigabits per second, targeting hard-to-wire areas in Africa, California and other underserved markets.
Born from Alphabet's Project Loon, Taara says it complements rather than replaces satellite services such as Starlink and plans a fingertip-sized chip by 2026 to cut installation costs.
Could Taara’s laser internet truly overcome the barriers that have kept billions offline, or will new challenges emerge as deployment scales up?
How might Taara’s rooftop and pole-mounted Lightbridge devices reshape urban landscapes and infrastructure planning in major cities?
In severe weather or densely built environments, can Taara’s technology consistently outperform fiber and satellite for critical last-mile connections?
How Taara's Free-Space Optical Technology is Transforming Telecom with Ultra-Low Latency and Rapid Deployment
Overview
In early 2026, Taara launched Taara Beam, a compact free-space optical communication product enabled by a breakthrough in silicon photonics that miniaturized the technology to a shoebox size. This innovation eliminates the need for trenching and licensed spectrum, allowing faster, lower-cost deployment of high-throughput, low-latency links ideal for dense urban areas, campuses, and data centers. Following its spin-off from Alphabet in 2025 to gain funding and agility, Taara partnered with major telecom operators to deploy its technology in over 20 countries. Looking ahead, Taara aims to expand last-mile solutions and play a key role in future 6G networks, despite challenges like weather sensitivity and scaling for AI-driven data demands.