Latest rollout adds 37 new countries in Europe to the LEOsat operator’s footprint
OneWeb has expanded its connectivity services throughout Europe and most of the United States – now reaching regions above the latitude of 35 degrees north.
This latest expansion adds 37 new countries in Europe to its footprint, including Austria, Italy, France, and Portugal, as well as the entire western US coast from Washington to California, the northeast coast from Maine to Virginia, and across the Midwest. The expansion also further enhances connectivity across Canada and additional maritime regions.
OneWeb’s wholesale connectivity network is already delivering connectivity at 50 degrees north, working with distribution partners, like Orange, to provide community broadband solutions, cellular backhaul, corporate enterprise services, and more across the Arctic to connect locations in Alaska, Canada, the UK and elsewhere.
Chief customer officer Stephen Beynon said: “This expansion is a significant step in our journey to delivering global commercial service for our customers…Our technical experience in all corners of the globe, as well as the strong relationships we have with existing partners in Alaska, Canada and Europe, means OneWeb is well placed to support customers in these new regions as well as welcoming new partners to activate services for the first time.”
OneWeb completed the launch of its global constellation of more than 600 satellites earlier this year and the business is working towards offering fully global service by the year end. OneWeb said it was on track to complete the full global rollout of ground stations by the end of the year.
LEO momentum masks GEO bleakness
Soon-to-be geostationary satellite partner Eutelsat – the two announced plans to merge last year and are on track to complete this summer – is keen to get a LEO “bounce” from OneWeb given its traditional revenues, like broadcast, have fallen markedly in the past two years.
Eutelsat is pivoting to match OneWeb by only offering wholesale satellite broadband capacity across Europe. It has substantial wholesale deals for its the Eutelsat KONNECT satellite with Orange in France, TIM in Italy, Hispasat in Spain and Swisscom in Switzerland. It recently announced it was exiting retail broadband in Europe.
The two companies will be hoping to sign more telco deals like OneWeb’s recent tie-up with Australian incumbent Telstra that will see them begin moving hundreds of existing remote mobile base stations currently using satellite backhaul to OneWeb’s LEO solution from later this year.