Sunil Mittal owned Bharti Enterprises, the parent company of Airtel, has acquired a strategic minority stake in OneWeb, a UK-based satellite internet company that seeks to provide affordable internet access in rural and remote areas across the world. Other investors in OneWeb include Qualcomm Incorporated, Virgin Group, Airbus Group, The Coca-Cola Company, Intelsat and Grupo Salinas.
Together, the stakeholders have invested $500 million into the venture. Bharti Airtel will be a preferred distributor of the service in India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Africa, with a strong focus on rural markets, according to a Bharti statement. It will also have representation on the OneWeb board.
OneWeb will build a communications network through 648 low-orbit satellites. Its user terminals will have embedded LTE, 3G, 2G and Wi-Fi access capabilities that extend the reach of mobile operators. With more than 10 terabits per second of new capacity, the system will extend the networks of mobile operators and internet service providers to new areas, bringing voice and data access to consumers, businesses, schools and health care institutions, among other end users.
Bharti Airtel, which has operations in 20 countries across Asia and Africa, can leverage its investment by becoming a preferred distributor of these services across its operations. The company’s mobile networks cater to about 1.85 billion people, according to the company statement.
Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman of Bharti Enterprises, said, “Access to affordable, high-speed internet is a powerful tool for economic development and empowerment of populations, particularly in emerging economies. OneWeb, an innovative system, backed by leading global corporations, will complement the efforts of governments and telecom operators across the globe to take internet to the masses.
“Currently, Arianespace and Virgin Galactic will be launching the satellites. However, I will be engaging with Isro (Indian Space Research Organisation) so that they could also be part and do satellite launches for the company…It (the initiative) is a very cost-effective solution. For instance, all that is needed is to put up a terminal, which will cost $250 and be powered by solar energy. You could run it instantly and get connected without the requirement of any towers. It is ideal for a village panchayat, which could buy and put this terminal on the top of a water tank,” Mittal said.
“The people around could be connected to 3G/LTE instantly, depending upon what they want. Similarly, government schools could be used as a hub to put these terminals and connect rural and remote areas easily. The beauty of this system is unlikely Iridium, for which you had to buy expensive satellite phones, here, you could be connected with your existing mobile phone,” he said, adding OneWeb would boost the Centre’s Digital India programme and its vision of broadband access to all.
Following the announcement of its joint venture with Airbus Space and Defence for a satellite production facility (with the highest volume globally), OneWeb has also announced the largest commercial rocket acquisition in history - about 65 rockets from Arianespace and Virgin Galactic. “The dream of fully bridging the digital divide is on track to be a reality,” said Greg Wyler, founder of OneWeb.
