OneWeb

OneWeb LLC, formerly known as WorldVu, is a global communications company founded by Greg Wyler. The company is based in Arlington, Virginia[1] and plans to launch the OneWeb satellite constellation, a network of 648[2] Low Earth orbit microsatellites, starting in late 2017.[3]

Its intended goal is to "reach hundreds of millions of potential users residing in places without [existing] broadband access".[4]

History

OneWeb secured $500 million in funding including launch deals with Virgin Galactic and Arianespace in 2015.[5][4]

In June 2015, OneWeb entered a deal with Airbus Defence and Space for the construction of its broadband Internet satellites after a competition among U.S. and European manufacturers.[6]

In December 2016, OneWeb raised $1 billion from SoftBank Group Corp. and $200 million from existing investors.[7][8]

In February 2017, OneWeb announced that it expected to sell all of its capacity by launch time, yet the only announced capacity sold was for a joint Gogo and Intelsat venture. Wyler announced he was considering nearly quadrupling the size of the satellite constellation by adding 1,972 additional satellites that it has priority rights to.[7] With the original capital raise of $500 million in 2015, plus the $1 billion investment of SoftBank in 2016, previous "investors committed to an additional $200 million, bringing OneWeb’s total capital raised to $1.7 billion."[7]

A merger arrangement with Intelsat that had been in negotiations during May 2017 collapsed in June and did not go forward.[9]

References


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