Yes. The project was “global bit” or “gBit” and it was also looking at a satellite constellation. It got cancelled in 2014ish. This was unrelated to Loon
Source: got approval to transfer to work on it the very day it was cancelled.
Source: got approval to transfer to work on it the very day it was cancelled.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O3b
https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/idg/IDG_852573C4...
Google eventually sold its stake in O3b around 2016.
Would have been such a galactic halo for the Google brand. Not sure how the financial spreadsheets looked, but those don't do well in accurately quantifying brand value.