UPDATE OneWeb, a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite communications company, will launch 36 satellites tomorrow, marking the completion of its ‘Five to 50’ ambition enabling connectivity services for the first time to the 50th parallel and above by the year end. The company said the satellites, when in operation, will offer full connectivity services across the United Kingdom, Alaska, Northern Europe, Greenland, Iceland, continental U.S., the Arctic Seas and Canada.
The London-based company had declared bankruptcy over a year but in early 2021, as reported by Inside Towers, and was purchased by the U.K. Government and Bharti Global with SoftBank maintaining partial ownership. The company was forced to “streamline its constellation” by downsizing its request for licenses from the FCC, Inside Towers reported. Originally OneWeb had applied to the commission for market access to 47,884 satellites. The figure was reduced to 6,372. With this group of satellites, OneWeb will have 684 LEOs in operation. Yesterday, the company announced it has secured $2.4 billion in funding.
The company announced demonstrations will begin this summer in Alaska and Canada as OneWeb prepares for full commercial service in these regions in the next six months. Offering enterprise grade connectivity services, the company has already announced distribution partnerships across several industries including with ROCK Networks, AST Group, PDI, Alaska Communications and others.
To mark the fifth and final launch of ‘Five to 50,’ with all satellites delivered on time, a welcome message “Hello North Pole” is branded on the rocket, reflecting the significant progress OneWeb has made to secure its Arctic coverage.
The launch is scheduled to take place on July 1, 2021, at 8:48 a.m. ET from the Vostochny Cosmodrome and will be conducted by Arianespace. The event can be watched via Livestream or on the OneWeb website.
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