Eutelsat OneWeb

OneWeb was founded in 2012 by Greg Wyler, with the goal of using low-earth-orbit satellites to provide low-latency alternatives to terrestrial networks.⁠[1][2]

On June 25, 2015, OneWeb announced $500 million in funding from investors including Bharti, Qualcomm, Virgin Group, Airbus Group, Coca-Cola, Intelsat, and Grupo Salinas. The company planned to build an initial low-earth-orbit constellation of 648 satellites and to start services in 2019; it had previously announced a joint venture with Airbus to build a satellite factory and ordered more than 65 launches from Arianespace and Virgin Galactic.⁠[2][2][2][2]

On February 27, 2019, the first six OneWeb satellites were launched on an Arianespace Soyuz rocket from the Guiana Space Center in French Guiana. In the same year, OneWeb Satellites, the joint venture between OneWeb and Airbus, was formed, building satellite factories in Toulouse, France, and Florida in the United States.⁠[3][1][1]

As of June 2020, OneWeb was in U.S. Chapter 11 proceedings. On June 26, 2020, the permanent secretary of the UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy wrote to the secretary of state that the government was considering investing up to $500 million to co-finance, with other investors, the purchase of OneWeb out of the bankruptcy proceedings.⁠[4][4]

On July 3, 2020, a consortium led by the UK government won the bid for OneWeb, with the UK government and Bharti Global each contributing $500 million and Bharti providing commercial and operational leadership; the deal was subject to U.S. court approval and regulatory clearances.⁠[5][5][5][5]

On November 20, 2020, the acquisition was completed and OneWeb emerged from U.S. Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, with the UK government and Bharti Global investing a combined $1 billion of new equity; the company remained headquartered in the UK. Sunil Bharti MittalSunil MittalSunil Mittal is an Indian entrepreneur and the founder and chairman of Bharti Enterprises. He started in 1976 by manufacturing bicycle components in Ludhiana, entered mobile communications under the Airtel brand in the 1990s, and built Bharti Airtel into a major telecom operator in India and Africa; he also led Bharti’s acquisition of the satellite company OneWeb and is co-chair of Eutelsat.Open the full entry became executive chairman, and Neil Masterson, formerly co-chief operating officer of Thomson ReutersThomson ReutersThomson Reuters (Toronto Stock Exchange and Nasdaq symbol TRI) is a content and technology company headquartered in Toronto, Canada, that provides information, software, and AI products to professional fields including legal, tax, accounting, compliance, government, and media, and owns the news agency Reuters. The company was formed after The Thomson Corporation acquired Reuters Group PLC in 2008, and Woodbridge, the Thomson family’s private investment company, is its controlling shareholder.Open the full entry, succeeded Adrian Steckel, who had been chief executive since September 2018. At the time, OneWeb had launched 74 satellites and planned to resume launches in December.⁠[6][6][6][6][6][6][7]

On April 27, 2021, OneWeb announced that Eutelsat would invest $550 million, receiving an equity stake of about 24% and governance rights similar to those of the UK government and Bharti Global, bringing OneWeb’s total fresh equity funding to $1.9 billion; SoftBank was also one of the key investors.⁠[8][8][8][8]

On June 29, 2021, Bharti Global exercised a call option to invest an additional $500 million in OneWeb, bringing OneWeb’s total equity funding to $2.4 billion, with no debt issued. In the same year, OneWeb started its first services in regions north of the 50th parallel.⁠[9][9][1]

In August 2021, OneWeb received a Letter of Intent from India’s Department of Telecommunications confirming that its Global Mobile Personal Communication by Satellite (GMPCS) license had been approved, valid for 20 years; before the license could be validated, OneWeb had to submit compliance declarations and pay fees.⁠[10][10][10]

In March 2022, after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, OneWeb postponed indefinitely six launches that had been due to take place from Baikonur, delaying its global coverage and requiring it to find alternative launch providers.⁠[3][3][3]

On July 26, 2022, Eutelsat and key OneWeb shareholders signed a memorandum of understanding for an all-share combination: OneWeb was valued at $3.4 billion, and OneWeb shareholders would receive 230 million newly issued Eutelsat shares, representing 50% of the enlarged share capital. At the time, 428 of OneWeb’s planned 648 satellites were in orbit. The UK government said it would retain its special share in OneWeb and its rights relating to national security, and OneWeb’s headquarters would remain in the UK.⁠[11][11][11][11][12][12]

On October 23, 2022 (local time in India), NewSpace India Limited (NSIL) launched 36 OneWeb satellites on an LVM3 rocket from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. It was OneWeb’s 14th launch and the first commercial launch using the LVM3, bringing the constellation to 462 satellites.⁠[13][13][13][13]

On March 26, 2023, NSIL again launched 36 satellites for OneWeb from Sriharikota. It was OneWeb’s 18th launch, bringing the constellation to 618 satellites, exceeding the 588 needed for global coverage.⁠[14][14]

On September 28, 2023, the all-share combination of Eutelsat and OneWeb was completed after approval at Eutelsat’s general meeting. OneWeb became a subsidiary of Eutelsat, operating as Eutelsat OneWeb with its center of operations remaining in London; before the combination, Eutelsat held a 22.91% equity interest in OneWeb. The combined Eutelsat Group is headquartered in Paris, with Bharti EnterprisesBharti EnterprisesBharti Enterprises is an Indian conglomerate founded by Sunil Bharti Mittal in 1976 in Ludhiana, Punjab. It began by manufacturing bicycle components and later entered mobile communications under the Airtel brand. Its flagship company, Bharti Airtel, runs telecommunications businesses in India and Africa; the group also holds stakes in companies including the satellite operator Eutelsat and the UK’s BT Group, and is involved in insurance, real estate, hospitality, and food.Open the full entry as its largest shareholder at 21.2% and Sunil Bharti Mittal as co-chair of Eutelsat; the UK government still holds one B special share in OneWeb.⁠[15][15][3][15][15][3]

In November 2023, India’s Department of Telecommunications granted internet service provider licenses to Jio Satellite CommunicationsJio Satellite CommunicationsJio Satellite Communications Limited (JSCL) is the satellite communications subsidiary of Jio Platforms, the digital services company of India’s Reliance Industries. It holds a Unified License issued by India’s Department of Telecommunications that includes authorization for Global Mobile Personal Communication by Satellite (GMPCS) services, and is one of three non-geostationary satellite communications licensees in India to have received such a license. As of October 2026, it was still awaiting completion of a security assessment and assignment of spectrum, and had not begun commercial service.Open the full entry and Bharti group-backed OneWeb, both of which had been permitted to provide satellite communication services about a year earlier; to provide services directly to user terminals, they still needed to obtain spectrum.⁠[16][16][16]

On September 20, 2024, Eutelsat completed its acquisition of the Indian operating entity OneWeb India Communications Private Limited, obtaining a 74% equity interest for an investment of about €3 million, with the remaining 26% held by Bharti Airtel; after Indian foreign direct investment approval is obtained, put and call options will allow Eutelsat to acquire the remaining 26%.⁠[3][3][3][3][3][3]

On October 20, 2024, SpaceX launched 20 satellites for OneWeb on a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. As of June 2025, OneWeb had completed 20 launches, with 654 satellites in orbit in its first-generation low-earth-orbit constellation.⁠[3][3][3]

As of June 30, 2025, Bharti Space Ltd held 24.09% of Eutelsat’s shares and voting rights, making it the largest shareholder; Bpifrance Participations held 13.59%, the UK Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology held 10.89%, and SoftBank Group Capital Europe held 10.44%.⁠[3][3][3][3]

In 2025, Eutelsat launched a two-step capital increase of about €1.5 billion, led by the French government with participation from Bharti Space, the UK government, CMA CGM, and the French strategic investment fund FSP: a €828 million reserved capital increase was completed on November 21, 2025, and the success of a rights issue of about €670 million was announced on December 12. Under the plan announced on July 10, 2025, after the capital increase the French government would hold 29.65%, Bharti Space 17.88%, and the UK government 10.89%.⁠[17][17][17][18]

As of September 2025, India had granted satellite internet service licenses to three companies: Starlink Satellite Communications Pvt. Ltd. received its license in June 2025, and before it Jio Satellite Communication Limited and OneWeb India Communications Private Limited had been granted licenses.⁠[19][19]

On December 15, 2025, Eutelsat and its partner Airtel announced that they were using OneWeb low-earth-orbit satellite connectivity to support the Indian Army’s humanitarian relief operations in flood-hit areas of Sri Lanka, including 24/7 telemedicine consultations.⁠[20][20]

On January 14, 2026, Eutelsat announced that it was providing OneWeb low-earth-orbit satellite connectivity for the voyage of INSV Kaundinya, an Indian Navy traditionally built stitched-plank sailing vessel retracing ancient maritime trade routes.⁠[21][21][21]

On October 8, 2026, after Elon Musk said Starlink’s entry into India was being blocked by “certain oligarchs,” India’s communications ministry stated that the government had granted licenses to three Global Mobile Personal Communication by Satellite services based on non-geosynchronous satellite orbits, each of which must demonstrate compliance with security conditions; that security assessments of the three were under way, after which they could proceed to the next step of seeking spectrum; and that the three were currently at broadly the same regulatory stage, so the suggestion of unfairness or discrimination was “baseless and misconceived.” The three licensees, Starlink, Reliance Jio’s satellite company, and Bharti-backed Eutelsat OneWeb, cannot begin commercial services until the required security assessments and spectrum-related approvals are completed.⁠[22][23][23][23][23][22][22]

On the same day, India’s Minister of State for Communications Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani said the Department of Telecommunications had issued licenses and provisional spectrum to all satellite communications companies, and the matter was pending a security review by the Ministry of Home Affairs. Bharti group chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal said his satellite business was also awaiting approvals. The Department of Telecommunications had approved a satellite spectrum charge of 5% of adjusted gross revenue, which was yet to be approved by the Union Cabinet.⁠[22][22][22][24]

As of October 2026, Eutelsat’s OneWeb low-earth-orbit constellation consists of more than 600 satellites in 12 orbital planes about 1,200 km above the Earth, providing high-speed, low-latency connectivity to users on land, at sea, and in the air. In June 2025, Eutelsat said it was one of only two global operators with active commercial low-earth-orbit fleets at the time, and the only one of them focused exclusively on enterprise and government markets.⁠[25][26]

Eutelsat: Official website: https://www.eutelsat.com/ (opens in a new window).⁠[27]