A typical cell site has a theoretic range of 22 to 45 miles depending on the technology, but may be limited to just a couple miles depending on terrain.
Imagine a cell site at 5,000 foot elevation serving up to a 45 mile radius. The data might be trunked to the ground with a microwave dish or piped to a satellite. Parked over Manhatten it could serve 20 million people within the 45 mile radius...6% of the countries population. There are probably hundreds of cell sites within that radius that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars each, suddenly an airship looks like a very cheap alternative.
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That is the same idea that Burt Rutan worked on in 1998, but stationing his “cell phone tower” at 60,000 ft for better coverage.
The plane is still active.
