OneWeb has attracted $ 1.25 bn to cover the Earth with Internet
British space startup OneWeb attracted $ 1.25 billion investment. This is stated on the company’s Twitter page. The company launched its first satellites into space in February 2019. The organization said that these funds will make the launch of the Internet network inevitable in 2021. In total, OneWeb has attracted more than $ 3.4 billion at the moment. Qualcomm, SoftBank, the Mexican group of companies Grupo Salinas and the government of Rwanda were among the investors of the last round.
OneWeb is going to provide Internet access across the globe using a satellite system. The company launched the first satellites from the Guiana Space Centre in February 2019.
The tech corporation is going to launch about 30 satellites per month since October 2019. Such production will help to create a network of 648 satellites in low earth orbit, according to the BBC publication. As a result, different objects on Earth (schools, airplanes, houses) will get access to the Internet using special antennas.
Most of the investment will be used for a satellite production factory building in Florida, as Bloomberg said. The factory plans to produce up to two satellites per day.
Companies in the space industry usually launch satellites once a quarter for comparison. In addition, the OneWeb satellites are smaller than standard and are closer to Earth.
By the way, SpaceX launched its test satellites for the distribution of the Internet in February 2018. Also, Russian Roscosmos announced its own similar system of Internet satellites in May 2018. /Source: Oinvest/
March 22, 2019