Google backs $750m African internet project
Google has teamed up with John Malone, the media billionaire, and HSBC on a venture that will offer internet access to three billion people in Africa and other emerging markets as the US search engine continues to expand its presence across the web.
The project, named O3b Networks, is targeting those people for whom broadband internet access is not commercially viable. The consortium will today announce a deal to buy 16 low-earth orbit satellites from France's Thales Alenia Space as it kicks off the $750 million project to link mobile phone masts to broadband networks in a series of countries close to the equator, the Financial Times reported.
