Indo-UK OneWeb gears up for December launch
SATELLITE OPERATOR PLANS COMMERCIAL SERVICES NEXT YEAR
ONEWEB, the collapsed satellite operator rescued by the British government and India’s Bharti Group, will resume launches with Arianespace in December, putting it on track to begin commercial services next year, it said on Monday (21).
The return-to-flight launch, the first of 16 under an amended agreement with Arianespace, will increase OneWeb’s in-orbit fleet to 110 satellites, it said.
Commercial broadband and other communications services will start by the end of 2021 under the plan, it said, initially in Britain, Alaska, northern Europe, Greenland, Iceland, the Arctic seas and Canada.
The agreement is subject to confirmation of the company’s restructuring plan, which saw Britain and Bharti emerge as the winning bidders in a bankruptcy sale in July.
The two companies have pledged to invest a total of $1 billion in OneWeb, aiming to create a competitor to Elon Musk’s SpaceX in the race to use low earth orbit satellites to provide communication services.
US satellite broadband provider Hughes Network Systems joined the OneWeb constellation later in July when it agreed to invest $50 million (£39m).
Last week, a UK parliamentary committee which investigates the British government’s conduct accused it of gross interference over a probe into its purchase of the stake in OneWeb.
The business select committee said the UK government’s business department had prevented a witness from appearing in a session to discuss the government’s $500 million purchase of the stake in OneWeb.
Business secretary Alok Sharma said in reply that he welcomed the scrutiny but as the transaction had not closed, he did not want the commercial discussions to be affected. The committee launched an investigation into whether this particular “gamble” was a good use of taxpayers’ money and to review where One
Web fitted into the overall space strategy.
OneWeb, founded in 2014, planned to launch 650 satellites into low earth orbit to provide universal internet access but was locked in a constant struggle to raise funds.
It filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy at the end of March after its biggest investor, SoftBank Group Corp, pulled funding, prompting Britain and India’s Bharti Global to join forces to buy it at an auction.
Darren Jones, chair of the select committee, told a hearing last Thursday (17) that the government had said it could not support the appearance of witness Tim Farrar from Telecom, Media and Finance Associates because he had advised on the deal.
In a letter to Sharma, he said: “To be clear, you have no such power to authorise witnesses to my committee and it is a gross interference with the work of parliament for the government to intervene in this way.
“My committee is authorised by parliament to hold you, your colleagues and your department to account.”
In his response, Sharma suggested Farrar could take part in a confidential briefing or in a standard hearing when the transaction has concluded.