O3b founder Greg Wyler’s satellite broadband venture WorldVu, now rebranded as OneWeb, has secured its first investors in the shape of chip-maker Qualcomm and the Virgin Group.
OneWeb plans to roll-out a constellation of 648 micro satellites to make…
O3b founder Greg Wyler’s satellite broadband venture WorldVu, now rebranded as OneWeb, has secured its first investors in the shape of chip-maker Qualcomm and the Virgin Group.
OneWeb plans to roll-out a constellation of 648 micro satellites to make high-speed internet available across the globe using non-geostationary Ku-band spectrum.
The initial investment will be used to fund the technical feasibility of the project and develop the business plan. OneWeb then intends to bring in additional investors to fund the construction, launch and operation of its system.
The microsats will beam down signals to OneWeb terminals, which will act as small cells and provide broadband to the surrounding area. The company hopes to offer internet access to the three billion people around the world who are currently not connected.
OneWeb has already contracted Virgin Galactic as its first launch provider. Richard Branson’s spaceflight venture will use its LauncherOne spaceplane to place the satellites into low Earth orbit.
Commenting on the agreement, Branson said: “We’re excited for the opportunity for Virgin Galactic’s LauncherOne programme to help make it possible through low cost, reliable and frequent satellite launches.”
Qualcomm’s executive chairman, Paul Jacobs, said the chip-maker had a “shared vision” with OneWeb to connect to underserved areas around the world.
“We are pleased to join Virgin as an initial investor, and we look forward to helping fund initial technical feasibility work for the satellite system,” Jacob added.
As part of their companies’ investment Jacob and Branson have joined Wyler on OneWeb’s board of directors.
Wyler first started working on the idea at O3b before he exited the company. He then took his brainchild to Google, but left last September with reports suggesting he had doubts about Google’s manufacturing expertise.
Two months later Wyler was reported to be in advanced discussions with SpaceX founder Elon Musk regarding the project. Talks were said to have progressed as far as discussing the construction of a factory. Wyler is still in discussions with manufacturing partners and earlier this week Musk said SpaceX plans to build satellites in the near future, so a partnership between the two could yet materialise.
Both the OneWeb and WorldVu plans are based on utilising the spectrum filings and regulatory scheme that were originally secured by Skybridge LP.
Skybridge was a start-up backed by Alcatel-Lucent that planned to create a global satellite broadband service in the 1990s but ultimately failed to secure the necessary funding. However, it did succeed in getting the rights to operate a LEO satellite constellation using Ku-band spectrum, although the frequencies are not necessarily trouble-free. As previously noted by Raymond James analyst Chris Quilty, GEO satellites have priority rights for the Ku-band which means OneWeb’s LEO satellites would be prevented from transmitting within 10 degrees of the equator. This would create a sizeable and poorly situated dead zone in coverage, Quilty suggested.
Under the name L5, Wyler made a number of ITU filings between late 2012 and December 2013 to use that spectrum. Those filings outlined a plan of launching a near-polar Ku-band constellation of 20 satellites in 18 planes, half of which would be at an altitude of 950km and half at 800km.
The regulatory deadline for launching satellites which utilise this spectrum is November 2019 (for the 2012 applications) and June 2020 (for the 2013 applications).
