OneWeb, which is partly owned by the UK Government and aims to deploy a global network of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites for ultrafast low-latency broadband provision (here), has today secured $550m (£395m) in funding from rival operator Eutelsat. This brings their total funding to $1.9bn (£1.37bn) in fresh equity.
After the latest launch OneWeb now has a total of 182 small LEO platforms in space and the initial plan is to build a constellation of 648 satellites, which is enough for a reasonable level of global coverage by around the end of 2022.
After that they also have future approval for a total of 2,000 satellites and 1,280 of those will be a second-generation model that sits in a higher Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) of 8,500km (some of these might also feature global navigation technologies to complement GPS), but that would require much more investment.
Perhaps surprisingly, the operator has now received a big funding injection from Eutelsat, which is best known for operating a rival geostationary satellite broadband network via their KA-SAT / KONNECT based platforms. Eutelsat will receive a c.24% equity stake in OneWeb and similar governance rights to the UK Government and Bharti Global, making it a significant equity partner and joining other leading investors including SoftBank.
The deal means that OneWeb now have 80% of the necessary financing for their Gen 1 fleet, of which nearly 30% is already in space. The investment is expected to be completed in the second half of 2021, subject to regulatory approvals.
Rodolphe Belmer, Eutelsat’s CEO, said:
“We are excited to become a shareholder and partner in OneWeb in the run up to its commercial launch later in the year and to participate in the substantial opportunity represented by the LEO segment within our industry. We are confident in OneWeb’s right-to-win thanks to its earliness to market, priority spectrum rights and evolving, scalable technology.
With over 40 years’ expertise in the global satellite industry, we look forward to working alongside the UK Government, Bharti and the other shareholders to open new opportunities and market access to ensure OneWeb maximises its potential.”
Neil Masterson, Chief Executive Officer of OneWeb, said:
“We are delighted with the investment from Eutelsat, which validates our strategy, technology and commercial approach. We now have 80% of the necessary financing for the Gen 1 fleet, of which nearly 30% is already in space. Eutelsat’s global distribution network advances the market entry opportunities for OneWeb and we look forward to working together to capitalise on the growth opportunity and accelerate the pace of execution.”
In theory the new network could deliver ultrafast broadband speeds (100Mbps+) and latency times of under 40ms (example), although we still have no idea what sort of service will actually be made available to the domestic connectivity market (via a third-party ISP as they don’t sell direct like Starlink) and how much it might cost.
By comparison Eutelsat claim they can deliver similar service speeds, although their latency times remain cripplingly slow. The tie-up with OneWeb could offer one way around that, while ensuring that they maintain a strategic position in the new market for LEO services.
After OneWeb completes the full deployment of their constellation, the company “anticipates annual revenues of approximately $1 billion in year three or soon thereafter, thanks to its partnership driven, wholesale business plan.” However, LEO broadband services still have a lot to prove, particularly in respect to their long-term economic viability.
Meanwhile, OneWeb also faces competition from Starlink’s (SpaceX) much larger constellation.
1178KM is classed as LEO..?
Ok.
There can be different interpretations, some say it’s generally below 1000km, but others say it goes up to 1600km or even 2000km.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low_Earth_orbit
https://www.universetoday.com/85322/what-is-low-earth-orbit/