OneWeb, a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite communications operator co-owned by the Bharti group and the UK government, launched another batch of 36 satellites by Arianespace from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
Achieved 60% Target
The latest launch, and the 9th since December 2020, takes OneWeb’s total in-orbit constellation to 394 satellites, representing 60% of OneWeb’s planned 648 LEO satellite fleet that will deliver high-speed global connectivity.
Competitors and Services
Bharti Group-backed OneWeb is ready to take on Elon Musk’s Starlink and Amazon’s Project Kuiper venture in the relatively fast broadband-from-space segment.
It will launch satellite broadband services in India by May 2022.
And it also plans to launch global satellite broadband services by the end-2022.
Progress of OneWeb
OneWeb continues to see growing demand for its services. In the past month, OneWeb has inked distribution partner agreements with Airbus to provide LEO services for military and governmental use in Europe.
And it also announced a new Canadian-headquartered distribution partner, Network Innovations and Vocus to expand enterprise connectivity in Australia.
OneWeb also acquired TrustComm in 2021, now OneWeb Technologies, which is focused on meeting the needs of government customers.
Debt Free
The firm said in a statement that with strong shareholder support, It has received investment from Japan’s Softbank and Eutelsat Communications, and further financing from Bharti.
OneWeb has secured $2.4 billion in total since November 2020 and no debt issuance. In addition, OneWeb continues to see growing demand for its services.
Comment
Sunil Bharti Mittal, Executive Chairman said, “With this launch, OneWeb will have sixty percent of its global satellite fleet in space.
It is an extraordinary achievement for a company that was reborn just a year a significant step towards our promise to deliver digital transformation on a global scale through our robust, secure ago, and resilient satellite broadband network.”
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