Satcom technology company Hughes Network Systems has announced that it is joining the consortium, led by the UK government and Bharti Enterprises, that will acquire OneWeb out of bankruptcy.
Hughes has agreed in principle to invest $50 million in the consortium, and will continue as a technology and distribution partner for the OneWeb Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite network going forward.
“Our continuing and strengthened involvement with OneWeb extends naturally from our position as a leading geostationary satellite operator and ground network innovator, along with a meaningful partnership with Bharti and longstanding relationship with the UK through our business operations in both countries,” said Pradman Kaul, President, Hughes.
“This global consortium brings the right players together to fulfil the promise of the OneWeb constellation in deploying low-latency services for communities, enterprises, governments, airplanes and ships – complementing geostationary connectivity and ushering in the new era of multi-transport services that will serve growing bandwidth demand around the world.”
“We look forward to doing our part in developing this ground-breaking technology and bringing those services to market.”
Hughes Communications India, a majority-owned subsidiary of Hughes, is already in the process of combining its satellite broadband operations in India with Bharti Airtel Limited, an Indian telecom provider affiliated with Bharti, as part of a merger announced in 2019.
