Google has expanded its Project Loon tests to the Nevada desert and, for the first time, into licensed radio spectrum.

Google declined to comment on the secret trials, but a local official confirmed they are related to Project Loon, and government filings point to several recent balloon launches.

Loon is an ambitious attempt by Google to bring Internet access to vast swathes of the planet that currently have little or no connectivity. The project was unveiled last June, and Google said at the time it was experimenting with balloons flying around 20 kilometers (65,000 feet) above the Earth, using radio links in an unlicensed portion of the spectrum at around 2.4GHz.

“The technology is under development and highly sensitive and confidential in nature,” Google wrote to the FCC. “The release of such information would provide valuable insight into Google’s technology innovations and potential business plans and strategies.”

Disclosing the tests, it added, would “ jeopardize the value of the technology” and enable others to “utilize Google’s information to develop similar products in a similar timeframe.”

[link to www.pcworld.com]