OneWeb Gets Additional Funding From Hughes, SoftBank; Pradman Kaul Quoted

OneWeb has now raised $1.4B in total funding after it received additional investments from Hughes Network Systems and SoftBank Group.

The additional funding provides OneWeb with needed capital to come up with a constellation of 648 satellites in low-Earth orbit by the end of 2022 to deliver broadband connectivity and low-latency communication services to customers worldwide, the company said Friday.

SoftBank will have a seat on OneWeb’s board of directors as part of its investment. 

Hughes is working on a ground system for the OneWeb satellite constellation under a $250M contract awarded in December.

“The investments made today by Hughes and SoftBank will help realise the full potential of OneWeb in connecting enterprise, government and mobility customers, especially with multi-transport services that complement our own geostationary offerings in meeting and accelerating demand for broadband around the world,” said Pradman Kaul, president of Hughes.

OneWeb now has a total of 110 satellites in orbit after the company launched 36 new LEO satellites in December.