Bharti backed OneWeb On Track to Achieve its ‘Five to 50’ Mission to Cover Regions North of 50 degrees Latitude including UK, Canada, Alaska and Arctic Region

·         OneWeb confirms successful lift-off of 36 satellites earlier today, as it prepares to bring the total in-orbit constellation to 254 satellites

·         High-speed connectivity to be available from the North Pole to the 50^th parallel – includes the United Kingdom, Canada, Alaska and Arctic Region

·         On track for full global coverage by June 2022 with a LEO constellation of 648 satellites

London/Mumbai, 1 July 2021: Bharti backed OneWeb, the Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite communications company, today announced the successful lift-off of another 36 satellites to mark the completion of its ‘Five to 50’ mission. With this major milestone, the Company is on the way to deliver connectivity across the United Kingdom, Canada, Alaska, Northern Europe, Greenland, and the Arctic Region.

The completion of the latest launch will take OneWeb’s in-orbit constellation to 254 satellites, or 40% of OneWeb’s planned fleet of 648 LEO satellites that will deliver high-speed, low-latency global connectivity. OneWeb intends to make global service available in 2022.

Service demonstrations will begin this summer in several key locations – including Alaska and Canada – as OneWeb prepares for commercial service in the next six months. Offering enterprise-grade connectivity services, the Company has already announced distribution partnerships across several industries and businesses including with BT, ROCK Network, AST Group, PDI, Alaska Communications and others, as OneWeb expands its global capabilities. The Company continues to engage with telecommunications providers, ISPs, and governments worldwide to offer its low-latency, high-speed connectivity services and sees growing demand for new solutions to connect the hardest to reach places.

The launch of the latest 36 satellites is conducted by Arianespace from the Vostochny Cosmodrom. Liftoff occurred on 1 July at 6:18 PM IST. OneWeb’s satellites will separate from the rocket in 9 batches over a period of 3 hours 52 minutes.

Sunil Bharti Mittal, Founder and Chairman of Bharti Enterprises, Executive Chairman of OneWeb, said: 

“Today’s momentous milestone demonstrates that OneWeb is now a leader in LEO broadband connectivity, serving a wide range of stakeholders across the Northern Hemisphere. This fifth launch amid the unprecedented global pandemic is truly remarkable and I congratulate the management team and fellow shareholders on the success.

“Bharti’s doubling of its investment earlier this week is testament to the commitment to OneWeb’s mission. We now look forward to the next chapter in OneWeb’s story, preparing the company for commercial service in the less than six months to deliver our global connectivity solutions to communities around the world. We wait for confirmation of satellite acquisition in the coming hours.”

Neil Masterson, OneWeb CEO, said: “This is a truly historic moment for OneWeb, the culmination of months of positive momentum in our ‘Five to 50’ programme, increased investment from our global partners and the rapid onboarding of new customers. We are incredibly excited to start delivering high-speed, low-latency connectivity first to the UK and the Arctic region and to see our network scale over the coming months as we continue building to global service.Thanks to all our incredible partners who have been with us on this journey and are instrumental to making OneWeb’s mission a success.”

Webcast playback

View the launch and playback here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhseRI8z7T8

Launch Imagery

Launch Partner

Arianespace and Glavkosmos

Launch Facility

Soyuz Launch Complex, Vostochny Cosmodrome

About OneWeb                

OneWeb is a global communications network powered from space, headquartered in London, enabling connectivity for governments, businesses, and communities. It is implementing a constellation of Low Earth Orbit satellites with a network of global gateway stations and a range of user terminals to provide an affordable, fast, high-bandwidth and low-latency communications service, connected to the IoT future and a pathway to 5G for everyone, everywhere. Find out more at http://www.oneweb.world