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Space race with Musk heats up while Eutelsat participates in OneWeb

Eutelsat, the European satellite operator of 20 percent of the French state, is paying $ 550 million for OneWeb, a pioneering space-based Internet, at 24 percent.

The UK government and India’s Bharti Global represent a significant step forward for the team rescued from defeat last year in a satellite race against SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.

OneWeb and SpaceX Starlink aim to launch mega constellations of low-Earth orbit (Leo) satellites to deliver high-speed broadband from space.

The agreement makes it one of the largest fixed satellite operators in the world, with a large number of commercial, government and customer organizations. OneWeb may be able to purchase low-latency satellite services offered by OneWeb’s ground orbit fleets. the agreement said.

OneWeb and Eutelsat will look at combined configurations for future services, they said.

OneWeb will channel its annual revenue of more than $ 1 billion within five years of the full deployment of the constellation, and was intended to provide a “profitable wholesale approach”.

These ground-to-Earth orbit services, which have stronger signals and lower latencies than traditional fixed-satellite systems, are seen as a response to providing high-speed internet to remote places on the planet. They will also be key to providing autonomous systems.

About 90 Leo constellations have been announced around the world, although SpaceX has a clear leadership with nearly 1,400 satellites in orbit.

He achieved a remarkable victory on Tuesday in a year-long battle with other operators who already and wanted to, including Amazon’s Project Kuiper, to change the operating license to make 2,800 more satellites closer to Earth.

Rivals, including OneWeb and Viasat, complained that at a lower altitude Starlink would disrupt their services and increase the risk of a collision. The U.S. Federal Communications Commission denied these inconveniences.

Meanwhile, the UK government, Bharti and SoftBank’s bets on OneWeb, which invested $ 350 million in January, are expected to fall from around 30 per cent to 24 per cent of Eutelsat. The UK will maintain its gold quota.

Eutelsat’s investment suggests that the satellite operator’s rating has risen by about 10 per cent since they were rescued. The UK and Bharti paid $ 500 million each for their bet, compared to Eutelsat’s $ 550 million.

Eutelsat will also receive three seats in the board – like the UK and Bharti.

OneWeb said plans to launch 648 first-generation satellites to provide global broadband service next year were funded at 80 percent, for a total of $ 1.9 million since it emerged from the Chapter 11 bankruptcy process in November.

By the end of this year, OneWeb plans to offer more limited Internet service in the UK, Alaska, Northern Europe, Greenland, Iceland, the Arctic and Canada. The company launched another 36 satellites on Monday, bringing its total orbit to 182 in its fleet.

Investment for Eutelsat is a way to reach the race to provide Internet access from orbits closer to the ground than fixed satellite services.

Eutelsat, traditionally dependent on emissions revenues, has focused on satellite broadband as the core business capable of returning to growth. In December, the company its Connect European and European Remote Targeting Service United Kingdom. It also acquired Bigblu Broadband satellite broadcaster listed in the UK last year.

Eutelsat has signed agreements with the telecommunications companies Orange and Telecom Italia, as the satellite has become a legitimate alternative to building expensive fiber networks.

OneWeb CEO Neil Masterson said Eutelsat’s global distribution network has opened up new opportunities. “We look forward to working together to take advantage of the many growth opportunities we have learned from our new partner’s experiences and technical knowledge.”

Rodolphe Belmer, CEO of Eutelsat, said the low-earth orbit has a “significant opportunity”. . . within our industry. We are confident in OneWeb’s right to win thanks to its priority in the market, its priority spectrum rights and the evolving scalable technology. ”


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