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.

As well as helping to fund the project, Airbus has been commissioned to build 900 micro-satellites designed by OneWeb – the total including a surplus for spares and upgrades.

The venture will involve the largest single commercial rocket acquisition in history, with France’s Arianespace commissioned to build 65 rockets and Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic space venture contributing 39 launches.

Founded by the satellite entrepreneur Greg Wyler, OneWeb is racing Facebook, Google and Elon Musk’s SpaceX to be the first to create a global scale broadband network in the sky.

“The dream of fully bridging the digital divide is on track to be a reality in 2019,” said Wyler. “We are excited about the next phase, which will involve working with countries, telecom operators and aid organisations to help them realise their goals of open and ubiquitous access.”

Airbus chief executive Tom Enders and Sunil Bharti Mittal, founder of Indian conglomerate Bharti, will join Richard Branson and Qualcomm executive chairman Paul Jacobs on the OneWeb board of directors.

A dizzying array of technologies from Google’s helium balloons, Facebook’s solar powered gliders, plus rockets and miniature satellites are being put to the test by competing ventures, but their ultimate goal is the same: to create a constellation of transmitters permanently orbiting the earth.

By beaming from the sky, the hope is that an internet connection will be easily available anywhere from the outer Hebrides to the Mongolian steppe. Villages in developing countries could benefit, as could rural mobile blackspots and urban canyons – streets bordered by skyscrapers where the mobile signal has difficulty penetrating.

The other five companies investing in OneWeb’s first round of funding, announced on Thursday, are Bharti Enterprises, which operates mobile networks in 20 countries across Asia and Africa, the US satellite broadband group Hughes Network Systems, satellite phone group Intelsat, chip maker Qualcomm and Mexican TV, telecoms and banking conglomerate Grupo Salinas. The total cost is expected to reach $3bn.

“Our vision is to make the internet affordable for everyone, connecting remote areas to the rest of the world and helping to raise living standards and prosperity in some of the poorest regions today,” said Branson.

Alongside a craft designed to take tourists into space, Virgin Galactic is developing a rocket designed to carry cargo beyond the earth’s atmosphere. However, the LauncherOne rocket has yet to take its first flight, while its tourist craft SpaceShipTwo broke up during a test flight over the Mojave desert last year.

Arianespace has an established business lifting heavy full size satellites into orbit using the Russian made Soyuz launcher. OneWeb has designed satellites, orbiting at 750 miles above the earth, which weigh less than 150 kilograms. These are designed to be mass produced using an assembly line approach at a cost of $500,000 each, significantly less than the larger satellites already in use, which typically cost $250m and can weigh 5000kg.

OneWeb has also designed user terminals, measuring two feet across and 1 foot tall, which can be powered by solar panels or from the mains. They receive the signal from the satellites and pass it on via wifi, but also 4G, 3G and 2G broadband and voice mobile phone signals. The system will be capable of delivering speeds of up to 50 megabits per second – as fast as a typical cable broadband service.

Wyler briefly worked at Google on the software giant’s own satellite internet project, and previously founded the still operational O3b Networks, which also offers space broadband and has already launched its first satellites. O3b clients include Digicel in Papua New Guinea, Royal Caribbean Cruises and Bharti in East Timor.

As well as reaching homes and businesses on the ground, OneWeb’s signals could be beamed out to Airbus aeroplanes, ships and emergency vehicles, which would have terminals fixed to their roofs.