OneWeb's plan was first presented in detail to the mediaEarly supporters included Airbus, Intelsat, Bharti Enterprises, Coca Cola, Group Salinas, Hughes Network Systems, Virgin Group and Intelsat. Softbank became a major investor.
But building satellite constellations is a very expensive undertaking and the history of the sector is littered with companies that also ended up seeking Chapter 11 protection with the US Bankruptcy Court. Some have managed to pull through - the classic example being Iridium, which launched the first satellite phone network.OneWeb is seeking to do the same. As well successfully launching 74 satellites, it has valuable radio spectrum rights and has built getting on for half of the 44 ground stations needed to operate its constellation. It will hope this progress will prove attractive to a new owner.
OneWeb has been in competition with California entrepreneur Elon Musk's SpaceX company to build a satellite internet mega-constellation. His rockets are regularly putting up 60 satellites at a time.If no buyer for OneWeb or its assets can be found, the UK government is ultimately responsible for the 74 spacecraft in orbit.Image copyright
They shouldn't have spent double the cost of launches flying the satellites with a Soyuz rocket. When they could have had launch costs at half the price with SpaceX's Falcon 9. Even tho they are a competitor. Gwynne Shotwell made a good explanation on why SpaceX is ahead.