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OneWeb

Arianespace revises OneWeb contract

Arianespace’s multi-million Euro contract from OneWeb (currently in Chapter 11 bankruptcy reconstruction) has been heavily revised. OneWeb wants 3 less rocket launches. Each will carry 34-36 OneWeb satellites and the full OneWeb constellation should be in orbit by the end of 2022. The new launch manifest will see Arianespace carry out 16 launches on its […]

September 23, 2020By Chris Forrester

OneWeb rejects Wyler in bankruptcy action

A Chapter 11 bankruptcy reconstruction allows the affected business to accept or reject some of the contracts and leases that were in place prior to the bankruptcy. OneWeb has delivered to its bankruptcy court a long list of contracts, some it will be happy to respect or amend but others it wants to be rejected. […]

September 23, 2020

OneWeb to restart launches in December

OneWeb, despite its current Chapter 11 bankruptcy situation, is to resume launching its satellites in December. It will restart launches using Arianespace using an amended agreement with the rocket launch company. OneWeb says the new schedule puts its business back on track to complete its full constellation by the end of 2022.  OneWeb says it […]

September 22, 2020

OneWeb success not guaranteed

The UK will own about 45 per cent of OneWeb which it will formally buy once the satellite operator emerges from its Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Bharti of India is the other major investor in OneWeb. However, a meeting of the influential UK parliamentary all-party Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) committee has been held […]

September 21, 2020

Phased Array antennas are satellite’s Holy Grail

The normal buyers of Phased Array satellite antennas are usually the military or public-service operators, or aircraft, train or bus operators. Their budgets can afford the thousands of dollars for a single installation. But if the plans of SpaceX (and rivals OneWeb and Project Kuiper) are to have any mass-market consumer impact, these costs must […]

September 17, 2020

Virgin Orbit hits OneWeb with $46m demand

Prior to its Chapter 11 bankruptcy OneWeb, ordered up a series of 39 satellite launches in May 2015 from Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Orbit aircraft-based rocket launch system. The Branson-backed business also invested in OneWeb and in return received launch options for an additional 100 aircraft-based rocket launches. However, OneWeb cancelled all the launches bar […]

September 15, 2020By Chris Forrester

OneWeb wins FCC approval for extra 1280 satellites

The FCC has approved OneWeb’s request to deploy an additional 1,280 satellites to provide high-speed broadband services in the US. The approval increases the number of satellites OneWeb can operate in the US market from 720 to 2,000, offering the company “greater opportunities to deliver satellite-based broadband services to the public,” the agency said in […]

August 28, 2020By Chris Forrester

Gates buys into satellite antennas

There are now three major would-be mega-constellation low Earth orbit satellite developers: Elon Musk’s Starlink, Jeff Bezos’ Project Kuiper and the UK/India joint-venture OneWeb (should it emerge from bankruptcy).  The missing link for each of them is a very low-cost phased array antenna to bring satellite broadband to the mass market. Which is perhaps where […]

August 27, 2020

Objections to OneWeb reorganisation plan

The official Committee of OneWeb’s unsecured creditors is objecting to the current Chapter 11 exit reorganisation plan for OneWeb. In a filing to the US Bankruptcy Court they argue that the disclosure statement from OneWeb “lacks adequate information of particular importance to the unsecured creditors.” The submission to the Court stresses that they are in […]

August 24, 2020

Bharti requests ISRO’s help for OneWeb terminals

Sunil Mittal, chairman of the Bharti group of business, has spoke at length about its involvement in bankrupt satellite operator OneWeb. Bharti has committed to investment $500 million in OneWeb. The UK government is matching the investment, while a smaller sum ($50 million) will come from EchoStar’s sister company Hughes Network Systems. Japan’s SoftBank and […]

August 21, 2020