Bharti Enterprises-owned OneWeb on Friday launched 40 new satellites into orbit from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida with Elon Musk-owned spacecraft maker SpaceX. With this launch, OneWeb’s total fleet in space now stands at 582 satellites.
The satellite launch is critical to providing global Internet coverage this year through OneWeb’s satellite broadband services. The company aims to take its total number of satellites in space to 648. The company is expected to launch more satellites in collaboration with Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and NewSpace India Limited (NSIL).
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“We are now just one mission away from completing our Gen 1 constellation, which will enable global service in 2023. Now more than ever, OneWeb offers connectivity solutions at scale and partners dedicated to continuing the momentum we’ve built over the past 17 successful launches to innovate alongside our loyal customers,” said OneWeb CEO Neil Masterson.
OneWeb already has connectivity solutions in Alaska, Canada, the UK, Greenland and the wider Arctic, and the company is bringing new areas online through partnerships with VEON, Orange, Galaxy Broadband, Paratus, Telespazio and more.
In India too, the company has got a license to provide satellite-based broadband services which could be launched this year as well. Currently, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is working to initiate a consultation process for satellite spectrum allocation.
“India will be the first to handle the issue of auction of space-based spectrum… and we will come up with the consultation paper in due course,” TRAI chairman PD Vaghela had said in December. “We can suggest that the space spectrum should be auctioned, but it should not kill the sector. That is very important. Any measures we will bring, will actually encourage and promote investment in this sector and not increase any burden and that is the biggest challenge and we are aware of them,” he said.
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Apart from OneWeb, companies like SpaceX-owned Starlink, Tata Nelco, Jio Satellite are all set to launch satellite communication services in the country.
In October last year, OneWeb launched 36 satellites from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota in collaboration with ISRO and NSIL.
