UK government-backed OneWeb launched 36 more satellites today (1 July), from Russia’s Far East, adding to the 200 already in orbit. These would enable the majority Bharti Airtel owned provider to offer full internet connectivity everywhere north of 50 degrees latitude, including the UK, Northern Europe, the US, Canada, Alaska, Greenland and Iceland. OneWeb said service demonstrations will begin in several locations later this summer, including Alaska and Canada. Commercial internet services are set to be rolled out in ‘swathes of the northern hemisphere’ later this year, according to Reuters.
OneWeb resumed satellite launches in December after emerging from bankruptcy protection with $1bn in equity investment from a consortium of the British government and India’s Bharti Enterprises. It has also received investment from Japan’s Softbank and Eutelsat Communications. OneWeb says it is now fully-funded and had secured a total investment of $2.4bn.
