OneWeb picks up $1.4B more from SoftBank and Hughes to help fund its first satellite fleet – TechCrunch
After a troubled year that saw broadband satellite operator OneWeb file for bankruptcy, get rescue finance from the UK government and Bharti, and then emerge out of that with a launch of part of its fleet last month, the London-based company today announced a another $1.4 billion in funding — money that it says will be enough to (finally) get the rest of its first-generation fleet of 648 satellites off the ground.
The 36 new satellites OneWeb launched in December brought the total number in orbit to 110 satellites, so there are still more than 500 left to launch.
SoftBank Group Corp. and Hughes Network Systems are providing the financing, the company said. The news comes about a month after OneWeb launched 36 satellites, its third launch to put more of its fleet into orbit. At the time, its executive chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal said that it was