OneWeb Raises Another $1.25 Billion for Internet Satellite Network

OneWeb, a London-based company working on an internet satellite network to provide high-speed internet on Earth, has raised $1.25 billion in a new investment round. This brings the total amount of money raised to 3.4 billion dollars.

According to the company, this new investment round makes it possible to accelerate the development of the OneWeb Internet satellite network. By 2021, most of the satellites should already be active and able to provide worldwide coverage.

The government of Rwanda also participated in this investment round. This can probably be explained by the fact that the OneWeb satellites ultimately aim to provide fast internet in places in the world where this is not self-evident, including African countries such as Rwanda.

This new investment round, in which money was raised from investors, was led by the Japanese SoftBank Group and Qualcomm, among others. These two companies have already invested money in the project before. Airbus is also one of the investors and the Airbus Defense and Space division is building the satellites weighing approximately 150 kilograms. In addition, Richard Branson of the Virgin Group is an investor.

Initially, 650 satellites are to be launched, which should eventually increase to over 900 or more, depending on the need. The first six satellites were successfully launched at the end of last month. The last quarter of this year should see a pace of monthly launches, putting more than 30 of the relatively small satellites into orbit at a time.

The moment the satellites ever reach the end of their lifespan, they will basically not become space debris. At that point, the satellite automatically goes out of orbit to burn up in the atmosphere. In addition, the satellites are equipped with systems to prevent collisions with possible space debris.