Broadband space race heats up as Airbus and Virgin Group join OneWeb

Company plans to send 648 micro-satellites into space by 2019, racing Facebook, Google and Elon Musk's SpaceX to be first to create global broadband network

The broadband space race has received a $500m boost after Airbus, Coca-Cola and Virgin Group joined other funders in backing a venture to bring the internet to the most remote corners of the planet.

OneWeb, based in the channel island of Jersey but with offices in California and Washington DC, plans to send 648 micro-satellites into space by 2019. These will do away with the expense of installing mobile phone masts or laying miles of cables, instead beaming a broadband signal direct to small, solar-powered user terminals on the ground.