“The first four of 12 satellites in a new constellation to provide affordable, high-speed Internet to people in nearly 180 ‘under-connected’ countries, were shot into space. The orbiters, part of a project dubbed O3b for the ‘other 3 billion’ people with restricted Internet access, will be lifted by a Russian Soyuz rocket from Kourou in French Guiana. The project was born from the frustrations of Internet pioneer Greg Wyler with the inadequacy of Rwanda’s telecommunications network, while travelling there in 2007. The system would cover the entire African continent, most of Latin America, the Middle East, southeast Asia, Australia and the Pacific Islands.”
