Topic / Subject

Taara (an Alphabet spinout) unveiled “Taara Beam,” a device it says can deliver up to 25Gbps internet over invisible light beams — basically “fiber-like speed without trenching,” as long as line-of-sight is clean. 

TL;DR

This isn’t a Starlink clone — it’s a city/enterprise connectivity play that aims to deploy in hours instead of months, but it lives and dies by line-of-sight. 

Key Details

Taara says Beam can hit up to 25Gbps bidirectional throughput using near-infrared light through the air.  The Verge reports it’s aimed at enterprises/telcos (middle-mile), with links up to ~10km and strict line-of-sight needs.  The Verge also notes ultra-low latency (sub-100 microseconds), and calls out practical deployment (rooftops/poles) without trenching or spectrum licensing.  Optics.org frames Beam as the first product on Taara’s new photonics platform, using optical phased arrays.  Taara ties its public showcase to MWC 2026 in Barcelona. 

Breakdown

Taara’s pitch is simple: the speed of fiber, the flexibility of wireless. Instead of digging streets up, you mount endpoints and shoot data as light — which could be a game-changer for dense cities, event sites, or any “we need capacity yesterday” situation. 

But the catch is also simple: line-of-sight. That means placement, alignment, and the real-world messiness of cities (construction cranes, grime, weather, random obstructions) become part of the product story. 

Taara is also being pretty clear about the customer: not your living room. This is middle-mile plumbing for carriers and enterprises — the kind of gear that helps networks breathe when fiber builds are slow or too expensive. 

What to Watch Next

Pricing, availability timing, and which carriers/markets get the first production deployments.  Real-world reliability data at scale (bad weather, dirty optics, alignment drift).  Whether MWC demos show stable performance beyond “perfect conditions” setups. 

Sources

The Verge — Taara Beam provides 25Gbps connectivity over invisible beams of light

Taara — Introducing the Taara Photonics Platform — and the First Product Built on It, Taara Beam

Optics.org — Taara launching photonics communications platform for high-speed internet

Comment

Would you trust “internet by light beam” in a real city rollout, or is fiber still the only thing you’d bet the network on?