Reuters reports that Google and HSBC, Europe’s largest bank, have thrown their weight behind an ambitious plan to provide cheap, high-speed Web access to 3 billion people in Africa and other emerging markets. Google has joined forces with the bank and cable operator Liberty Global to back a group called O3b Networks, which stands for the ‘other 3 billion’ people, to provide Internet access supported by satellites. The system will connect to core networks and 3G mobile and WiMAX towers.