OneWeb launches satellites to roll out northern internet service

A Soyuz-2.1b rocket booster with a Fregat upper stage and satellites of British firm OneWeb blasts off from a launchpad at the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Amur Region, Russia July 1, 2021. Roscosmos/Handout via REUTERS

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Britain-based tech company OneWeb sent 36 satellites into orbit on Thursday, a landmark launch it said would pave the way for it to begin rolling out a commercial internet service in swathes of the northern hemisphere this year.

OneWeb, which has more than 200 satellites in orbit as part of push to provide a global internet service, said the launch from Russia's Far East would allow it to offer connectivity everywhere north of 50 degrees latitude.