Google's parent company has made internet balloons available in Puerto Rico, the first time it's offered Project Loon in the US

Google's parent company Alphabet, in collaboration with AT&T, is now delivering limited internet connectivity in Puerto Rico through its internet balloon project called Project Loon.

This is the first time Loon has ever been available in the US.

That means that some AT&T customers in Puerto Rico can access limited internet connectivity on their smartphones — enough to send text messages and access some online info from these balloons floating through the atmosphere.

Google's parent Alphabet says its stratospheric balloons are now delivering the internet to remote areas of Puerto Rico where cellphone towers were knocked out by Hurricane Maria.

Two of the search giant's "Project Loon" balloons are already over the country enabling texts, emails and basic web access to AT&T customers with handsets that use its 4G LTE network.

Several more balloons are on their way from Nevada, and Google has been authorized by the Federal Communications Commission to send up to 30 balloons to serve the hard-hit area.

Project Loon head Alastair Westgarth says in a blog post that the technology is still experimental, though it has been tested since last year in Peru following flooding there.

Project Loon is part of Alphabet's R&D unit known as X, the same unit that created self-driving cars. There are some indications that Alphabet is getting ready to spin Project Loon out as its own independent company, similar to how self-driving cars became its own company, Waymo.Â

This is the second time Project Loon has been used in a large-scale way. The first time was in Peru, where Loon has been operating for a few months.

This is also and the first time Alphabet has turned on Project Loon in the United States.