OneWeb, a broadband satellite communications company, announced its emergence from U.S. Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
A consortium of UK Government and Bharti Global has invested $1 billion of equity to offer broadband connectivity services, via a constellation of 650 LEO satellites.
OneWeb announced a new management with Sunil Bharti Mittal as the executive chairman and Neil Masterson as chief executive officer.
Neil Masterson succeeds Adrian Steckel. Adrian Steckel joined OneWeb as CEO in September 2018 and has guided OneWeb through three launches, delivering 74 satellites into orbit and securing priority spectrum use rights for OneWeb.
“Together with our UK Government as partners, we recognised that OneWeb has global spectrum with priority rights, and we benefit from $3.3 billion invested to-date and from the satellites already in orbit, securing our usage rights,” Sunil Bharti Mittal, founder and chairman of Bharti Enterprises, said.
OneWeb also announces second half of December 2020 for its Return-to-Flight, with a 36-satellite payload scheduled for launch by Arianespace from the Vostochny Cosmodrome. All the satellites have shipped from Florida to Vostochny and are now undergoing preparation for launch.
Launches will continue throughout 2021 and 2022 and OneWeb is now on track to begin commercial connectivity services to the UK and the Arctic region in late 2021 and will expand to delivering global services in 2022.
