Internet firm Google and Europe's biggest bank HSBC have thrown their weight behind a plan to provide cheap, high-speed Web access via satellite to millions in Africa and other emerging markets. Google has joined forces with the bank and cable operator Liberty Global to back a group called O3b Networks, which stands for the “other 3 billion” people who do not have access. It will provide high-speed backhaul for telecoms operators and Internet providers. South African Finance Minister Trevor Manuel welcomed the project. “The information gap is very real and clearly whatever we can do to close it must be encouraged,” Manuel told a news conference in Berlin on the UN-backed Millennium development goals. “Any initiative that can leapfrog over traditional means of getting information to people must be encouraged. Information is power and it supports democracy and it supports decision-making.” O3b networks said in a statement the satellites would be constructed by Thales Alenia Space and should be operational by the end of 2010. The company's founder Greg Wyler said coverage would reach from Spain to South Africa, include most of South America, large parts of Asia and all South Pacific Islands.
