Broadband satellite company OneWeb has successfully emerged from US Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after securing all relevant regulatory approvals.
The UK government and Bharti Global are the new owners of OneWeb, investing USD 1 billion to provide broadband connectivity services through a network of 650 LEO satellite. OneWeb will continue to be headquartered in the UK, with Neil Masterson appointed as the new CEO. He was formerly Co-Chief Operating Officer at news, information and software group Thomson Reuters and succeeds Adrian Steckel, who will continue as an adviser to the board.
OneWeb has set the 17 December as the target date for its return to flight, with a 36-satellite payload set for launch from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia by Arianespace. All the satellites have been shipped from Florida to Russia and are currently being prepared for launch. The investment by the new shareholders has allowed the JV facility with Airbus in Florida to be re-activated and dual production lines restarted.
OneWeb satellite launches will continue in 2021 and 2022, with commercial services expected to launch to the UK and Arctic region in late-2021, followed by global services in 2022.
