Advanced Television

SoftBank

Report: Japan’s 6G race has already begun

On August 23rd, Japanese mobile operator Softbank announced its plan for future 6G rollout. Said to be 100 times faster than 5G, 6G is expected for 2030 and is “a technology for the 2030s,” according to Ryuji Wakikawa, Vice President and Head of the Advanced Technology Division at SoftBank. This anticipation comes as an unexpected […]

August 27, 2021

OneWeb gains another major investor

Broadband-by-satellite operator OneWeb has won another significant investor. Hanwha Systems, a South Korean technology company, is investing $300 million in equity in OneWeb which will shortly start services from its fleet of Low Earth Orbiting satellites. In return, Hanwha will receive an 8.8 per cent stake in OneWeb. It can also contribute its latest antenna […]

August 12, 2021By Chris Forrester

OneWeb fully funded with extra Bharti cash

Bharti Global has invested an extra $500 million (€420.5m) into satellite constellation OneWeb. It means that the business is fully funded at $2.4 billion. The extra cash from Bharti means that it now owns 38.6 per cent of the business. The other key investors, Eutelsat, the UK government and Softbank, are each holding 19.3 per […]

June 29, 2021By Chris Forrester

Inmarsat revenues dip; wins Skylo IoT connectivity

Inmarsat has agreed to provide the capacity backbone to deliver the Internet of Things (IoT) systems of Skylo, a satellite-based narrow-band IoT specialist. The agreement pairs the UK-based Inmarsat’s satellite network with Skylo’s IoT services for connecting machines and sensors. It will, the duo claim, provide “even the most remotely located application users with real-time, […]

June 11, 2021By Chris Forrester

OneWeb and SoftBank get closer

Japanese media conglomerate SoftBank and satellite broadband provider OneWeb have announced an agreement for “mutual cooperation to promote OneWeb’s satellite communication services in the global and Japan markets. SoftBank and OneWeb will promote satellite communication services via the combination of OneWeb services and SoftBank’s services, including advanced communication and Digital Transformation platform services”. A joint […]

May 14, 2021By Chris Forrester

Bank: “Eutelsat can make OneWeb viable”

Eutelsat is taking a 24 per cent stake in OneWeb. Eutelsat’s fresh cash values OneWeb at $2.3 billion. However, Eutelsat is paying a significant premium to enter OneWeb. When the UK government and India’s Bharti Global invested their cash into OneWeb they placed their $500 million into the business and received 42 per cent of […]

April 28, 2021

Iyuno-SDI Group nets $160m SoftBank investment

Iyuno-SDI Group, a provider of localisation services to the media and entertainment industry, has secured a $160 million investment from SoftBank Vision Fund 2, The investment will provide Iyuno-SDI with the necessary resources to support its mission of transforming the localisation industry. SoftBank Vision Fund 2 will become one of the largest shareholders of Iyuno-SDI […]

April 9, 2021

OneWeb raises fresh $400m

OneWeb, now out of bankruptcy, has raised $400 million (€330m) in fresh financing. Two existing – and former investors – have pitched in with the cash; $350 million comes from Japanese media giant SoftBank and an extra $50 million from Hughes Networks Systems. SoftBank was a major early investor in OneWeb, although most of that […]

January 15, 2021By Chris Forrester

SoftBank selling ARM to Nvidia

Giant UK chip-maker ARM, bought by Japanese media conglomerate SoftBank in 2016 for £24.3 billion, (€27bn) is being bought by Nvidia for around $40 billion in a probable cash+shares transaction. The deal will see Nvidia paying Softbank $21.5 billion in its own stock and $12bn in cash. Nvidia will follow with up to a further […]

September 14, 2020

OneWeb investors saw bankruptcy coming

A filing to the US bankruptcy court handling OneWeb’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy on August 3rd states that investors in OneWeb saw the company’s bankruptcy as likely from the middle of 2018. The key investors were SoftBank, Airbus, Qualcomm, Banco Azteca, and the Government of the Republic of Rwanda and the filing argues that these controlling […]

August 5, 2020By Chris Forrester