OneWeb to Raise $550 million from France's Eutelsat Communications

On Tuesday, OneWeb announced that it is raising $550 million (Rs 4,103 crore) by selling a 24% stake to Eutelsat Communications. This transaction brings its total funding to $1.9 billion and makes Eutelsat one of the key investors.

OneWeb Getting a new Co-Owner

OneWeb said in a statement on Tuesday that the transaction will go through by the second half of 2021. The said transaction is subject to regulatory approvals. The company announced the same on Twitter as well.

https://twitter.com/EutelsatOneWeb/status/1387075082242166791

Notably, this transaction makes Eutelsat, which is a French geostationary satellite operator, a key investor. Bharti Global, the UK Government and Eutelsat will own 24% stake in the company each. SoftBank, Hughes Network Systems and other minority investors will collectively own the remaining 28%.

Sunil Mittal, Chairman, Bharti Enterprises, spoke on the occasion. Calling OneWeb an open, multinational business, he said that they were “committed to serving the global needs of governments, businesses and communities across the world”. Notably, he is also OneWeb’s executive chairman.

As Mittal added, the synergy created by the “entrepreneurial energy of Bharti, the extensive global outreach of the UK government and the expertise in the satellite industry of Eutelsat” will benefit the Satcom company in the long run.

Rodolphe Belmer, CEO, Eutelsat said that it is “excited to become a shareholder and partner in OneWeb”. The company added that it is “confident in OneWeb’s right-to-win, thanks to its earliness to market, priority spectrum rights and evolving, scalable technology.”

Earlier, SoftBank Group and Hughes Network Systems together pumped $260 million into OneWeb in January.

Satcom Heating Up

OneWeb is preparing to deliver high-speed, low-latency satellite broadband services in rural and remote regions globally including India. That puts it in direct competition with Starlink and Project Kuiper. However, Starlink is quite far along with its satellite constellation, having more than 1000 satellites in orbit.

Incidentally, it will roll out satellite internet services in India by June 2022.

Earlier this month, Nettle Infrastructure Investments, a wholly owned arm of Bharti Airtel, acquired 100% stake in OneWeb India Communications. Notably, the said deal was an all-cash deal with the sum remaining undisclosed. Furthermore, UK-based Network Access Associates, a OneWeb group company, was seeking approval to invest in OneWeb India Communications, as per a filing by Airtel.