Universal connectivity should be the birth right for all in wireless world of the future: Sunil Mittal, OneWeb

Connecting the World from the Skies International Forum hosted by the Communications, Space and Technology Commission (CST) and International Telecommunication Union (ITU), was held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Delivering the keynote, Sunil Bharti Mittal, Executive Chairman, OneWeb, presented the wireless world of the future. He said that we have regulators and policy makers who hold an important position in the ecosystem. One of the most difficult challenges for us is to connect the unconnected. We have not been able to still connect a lot of people. Large number of people still don't have connection to high-speed broadband. We now have a ray of hope from satellite communications. Universal connectivity should be the birth right for all.

OneWeb has brought to life high-speed low-earth orbit (LEO) connectivity with low latency for primary, back-up, and hybrid capabilities. It delivers digital products and flexible plans that easily integrate with existing networks.

OneWeb and SpaceX entered into an agreement in March 2022 that will enable OneWeb to resume satellite launches. OneWeb, along with Starlink, is providing LEO services.

OneWeb took $229.2 million hit after it cancelled launches from Russia's Baikonur facility, and a number of its LEO satellites waiting to be sent to space were not returned. Mittal said we had a setback as the launches in Russia were compromised. We have overcome that.

In October, 36 OneWeb satellites were successfully launched by ISRO/ NSIL from Sriharikota, India. All of the 36 satellites are operational, bringing OneWeb’s total Gen 1 LEO constellation to 462 satellites. SpaceX will also launch 40 satellites for OneWeb. We are providing services to high-gain enterprise customers. Satellite connectivity has been something that the industry has been waiting for a long time, and it is now in play. Next, collaboration has been the one buzzword to connect the unconnected.

He invited Africa to take on LEOs, if they so wish. They can provide any services that they want. There will also be some space-faring nations, such as USA, China, Russia, and even India. Another region coming up is Saudi Arabia.

OneWeb now has about 500 satellites. With four more launches to go, OneWeb remains on track to activate global coverage in 2023. He added that we will have 45 SMPS around the globe, of which 26 will be done this year. We are also getting user terminals. We have nearly 1.1Tbps capacity to serve the world. The power of the LEO constellation is enormous. We have been present in Saudi Arabia for some time. We have partnerships with Neom and STC.

Neom's next-generation cognitive cities will support cutting-edge urban environments, improving the lives of residents and businesses far beyond the capabilities of today's smart cities. STC will deliver an advanced 5G and IoT network to support the development of Neom. Neom Tech & Digital Holding Co. – the first holding company to be established as a subsidiary of Neom – and OneWeb signed a $200 million (SAR 750 million ) JV agreement to bring high-speed satellite connectivity to Neom, Saudi Arabia and wider Middle East, and neighboring East African countries.

Mittal said that we are also bringing satellite services to Africa. We are connecting thousands of schools in Africa. Going forward, there must be very high degree of co-operation among space-faring nations. We intend to put LEO and GEO capabilities together. It will be world's first combination of LEO and GEO satellites. Intelsat and OneWeb have already partnered on the LEO/GEO in-flight connectivity. Eutelsat and OneWeb also see big future for combined GEO/LEO offering.

France and UK are two shareholders of OneWeb. Saudi Arabia is in discussion, and so is India. Mittal concluded that we are very excited to provide connectivity to Saudi Arabia. OneWeb should also finish the job of connecting everyone in the world by 2030.