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UK Government and Indian Mobile Operator Acquire OneWeb and its Broadband Satellites

posted by Fnord666 on Saturday July 04 2020, @06:26AM   Printer-friendly
from the your-government-as-your-ISP dept.

takyon writes:

British government and Bharti Global buy OneWeb, plan $1 billion investment to revive company

The British government and Indian mobile network operator Bharti Global placed the winning bid to acquire OneWeb, a broadband megaconstellation startup that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in March after running out of funding, OneWeb said July 3.

OneWeb said it has secured $1 billion in new funding — $500 million from the British government to "deliver first UK sovereign space capability," and another $500 million from Indian mobile network operator Bharti Global — to recapitalize its constellation effort.

OneWeb, in a news release, said the funding will "effectuate the full end-to-end deployment of the OneWeb system," but did not specify if that system is the original 650-satellite constellation the company was pursuing prior to bankruptcy. OneWeb has 74 satellites in low Earth orbit.

"This deal underlines the scale of Britain's ambitions on the global stage," Alok Sharma, business secretary for the British government, said in a separate July 3 release from the U.K. Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. "Our access to a global fleet of satellites has the potential to connect millions of people worldwide to broadband, many for the first time, and the deal presents the opportunity to further develop our strong advanced manufacturing base right here in the UK."

UK looks to challenge Elon Musk's Starlink after winning bid for bankrupt satellite company OneWeb

The U.K. government is set to try and take on Elon Musk's Starlink after it was crowned the winning bidder of failed satellite company OneWeb at an auction in New York.

[...] The $1 billion-plus rescue bid was made through a consortium involving India's Bharti Global, which through Bharti Airtel, is the third-largest mobile operator in the world, with over 425 million customers.

[...] U.K. Business Secretary Alok Sharma confirmed the government has pledged to invest $500 million and take a "significant" equity share in OneWeb, which is headquartered in London. The stake is reported to be around 20%.

Previously: OneWeb Goes Bankrupt, Lays Off Staff, Will Sell Satellite-Broadband Business
OneWeb Seeks Permission to Launch 48,000 Satellites Despite Bankruptcy

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday July 04 2020, @10:47AM

    by takyon (881) <takyonNO@SPAMsoylentnews.org> on Saturday July 04 2020, @10:47AM (#1016064) Journal

    UK buys £400m stake in bankrupt satellite rival to EU Galileo system [theguardian.com]

    The UK government has pledged to invest $500m (£400m) in bankrupt satellite company OneWeb, giving it a stake in a business that provides broadband from space.

    [...] Downing Street said: “The deal will support the UK to be a pioneer in the research, development, manufacturing, and exploitation of novel satellite technologies, whilst boosting UK manufacturing.”

    [...] However, some space experts have raised concerns over the suitability of its technology for navigational purposes. The government had ambitions to create its own rival to the US’s global positioning system (GPS), although it had reportedly scaled back those plans. The UK has been barred from the EU’s Galileo system because of Brexit.

    Dr Bleddyn Bowen, a space policy expert at the University of Leicester, told the Guardian last week it was a “tech and business gamble” that the satellites could be redesigned to allow navigation. The existing major satellite navigational systems all use satellites orbiting about 20,000km from the Earth’s surface, compared with only 1,200km for low-Earth orbits.

    OneWeb’s network has been described as unsuitable for navigational purposes by the UK’s own space agency, according to internal documents cited by the Daily Telegraph. A spokesman for the agency declined to comment on the documents.

    [...] The deal will give the UK a “sovereign global satellite system”, as well as “strategic opportunities across a wide range of other applications”, the government said.

    I completely missed that detail, but there it is. If they manage to get a broadband constellation and global navigation out of one purchase (and an additional $3-$10 billion in funding probably), good for them I guess.

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