Richard Branson, head of Virgin Galactic, announced plans to launch 2,400 satellites to provide high-speed Internet access in developing countries, as well as in hard-to-reach areas in developed countries.

Axar.az reports citing Foreign media that support for the OneWeb project (previously WorldVu) is provided by the American company Qualcomm. In the first wave, 648 satellites will be sent to orbit.

As noted by SlashGear, Internet access will be provided through local providers, and users will not be able to interact with satellites directly. It was expected that Elon Musk would be one of the OneWeb partners, but Branson was ahead of his colleague.

LauncherOne of Virgin Galactic will be used to send satellites. According to Branson, this is one of the most effective ways to deliver communication equipment to Earth orbit. The capacity of the satellites will be 8 gigabits per second. Launches are scheduled to begin in 2017.