Eutelsat OneWeb: Constellation - General Thread

[john smith 19]

If the UK government has majority control, then they only need to make sure OneWeb is profitable for the other investors. If OneWeb serves a national security purpose for the UK, it doesn't have to make money for the UK to be useful.

If the UK doesn't have a controlling interest in OneWeb, I'm not seeing the benefit.

It doesn't. 

[Welsh Dragon]

It's hard for me to see how the interests of a UK government looking for national technological pride (and potential GPS replacement) coincide with an Indian private telecom company presumably looking to provide satellite internet to rural Indian customers. It's a weird match, and it's also a bit strange that the UK is trumpeting this as their acquisition, their "sovereign global satellite system" -- are they an equal partner with Bharti Enterprises, since they both kicked in an equal amount for the purchase? And given that the UK and Bharti only own 90% of the company, it seems like the UK may not hold a majority equity stake.

If the UK government has majority control, then they only need to make sure OneWeb is profitable for the other investors. If OneWeb serves a national security purpose for the UK, it doesn't have to make money for the UK to be useful.

If the UK doesn't have a controlling interest in OneWeb, I'm not seeing the benefit.

Benefit to the UK government is a face-saving way of backing out of their promise to build their own GPS system.  $500 million wasted on a failed OneWeb is a deal compared to billions spent fielding a complete GPS system.

But it’s an extremely poor replacement for Galileo.

You are looking at this factually, rather than politically. The government hopes people won't look at the details, and most people won't.

[Welsh Dragon]

Making sure this is in here:

https://twitter.com/ChrisG_NSF/status/1279064603750805505

I know this is extremely pedantic, but British abbreviations don't use full stops. This should be UK, not U.K. It's grating to have this mistake in the very title.

[Star One]

It's hard for me to see how the interests of a UK government looking for national technological pride (and potential GPS replacement) coincide with an Indian private telecom company presumably looking to provide satellite internet to rural Indian customers. It's a weird match, and it's also a bit strange that the UK is trumpeting this as their acquisition, their "sovereign global satellite system" -- are they an equal partner with Bharti Enterprises, since they both kicked in an equal amount for the purchase? And given that the UK and Bharti only own 90% of the company, it seems like the UK may not hold a majority equity stake.

If the UK government has majority control, then they only need to make sure OneWeb is profitable for the other investors. If OneWeb serves a national security purpose for the UK, it doesn't have to make money for the UK to be useful.

If the UK doesn't have a controlling interest in OneWeb, I'm not seeing the benefit.

Benefit to the UK government is a face-saving way of backing out of their promise to build their own GPS system.  $500 million wasted on a failed OneWeb is a deal compared to billions spent fielding a complete GPS system.

But it’s an extremely poor replacement for Galileo.

You are looking at this factually, rather than politically. The government hopes people won't look at the details, and most people won't.

I just don’t see how a satellite constellation designed for one purpose can just be repurposed for an utterly different task and people not notice it isn’t that effective if it is ever released commercially.

[smoliarm]

On a practical side:
When we could expect resuming the satellite production and the launches?

[D_Dom]

Note from a moderator;
DO NOT respond with a quote from an offensive post, your quote will also be deleted.
NSF consistently provides a high signal to noise ratio. Be excellent. At all times.

[gongora]

also, it would seem from the current day's quotes on OneWeb that its primary purpose is still intended to be communications, so let's not go too far into the weeds with speculation about repurposing it when we really have no information about that.

[ncb1397]

Full Press Release

LONDON, July 3, 2020 – OneWeb, the communications company whose mission is to bring connectivity to governments, businesses, and people everywhere, announced today that it has entered into an agreement with a consortium led by HMG (through the UK Secretary of State for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy) and Bharti Global Limited (“Bharti”) for the acquisition of the OneWeb business in connection with its court-supervised sale process. The bid is designed to capitalise the company sufficiently as a going concern to effectuate the full end-to-end deployment of the OneWeb system.

Following a competitive process, the consortium’s winning bid represents a strong offer that will enable OneWeb to successfully emerge from the Chapter 11 process with a robust foundation on which to continue its progress towards commercial operations and secure OneWeb’s position as a global leader in low latency connectivity.

The consortium brings immediate commercial value to OneWeb. Bharti, through Bharti Airtel, is the third largest mobile operator in the world, with over 425 million customers. Bharti Airtel has its own extensive mobile broadband networks and enterprise business, which will act as the testing ground for all OneWeb products, services, and applications. Bharti will contribute significant contract value to OneWeb through its presence across South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, where the terrain necessitates the use of satellite-based connectivity, providing a near-term anchor customer for large-scale global deployment of OneWeb’s services.

The commitment of HMG accelerates and enhances OneWeb’s global access. OneWeb will contribute to the UK government’s ambition to join the first rank of space nations, along with its commitment to making the UK the world’s leader in science and research and development.

OneWeb remains ready to continue building its communications system to deliver transformative connectivity available everywhere including to businesses and people in remote and rural parts of the world, starting with the Arctic, while also maintaining a strong corporate purpose to do good through its communications and other services.

OneWeb has always believed that its system has tremendous potential. Demand for a new mix of connectivity services has been underscored during the pandemic, increasing the urgency through which businesses, people, communities must connect and operate.

Adrian Steckel, CEO of OneWeb commented: “We are delighted to have concluded the sale process with such a positive outcome that will benefit not only OneWeb’s existing creditors, but also our employees, vendors, commercial partners, and supporters worldwide who believe in the mission and in the promise of global connectivity. The combination of HMG and Bharti will bring immediate value as we develop as a global leader in low latency connectivity. This successful outcome for OneWeb underscores the confidence in our business, technology, and the work of our entire team. With differentiated and flexible technology, unique spectrum assets and a compelling market opportunity ahead of us, we are eager to conclude the process and get back to launching our satellites as soon as possible.”

The transaction remains subject to approval by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, as well as regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions. The transaction is expected to close by the fourth quarter of 2020. In the meantime, the purchasing consortium will work with the OneWeb management team to further develop the strategy and business plan and to resume the Company’s launch schedule.

https://www.oneweb.world/media-center/oneweb-announces-hmg-and-bharti-global-limited-consortium-as-winning-bidders-in-court-supervised-sale-process

Bharti Airtel has their own home internet service in India using fiber called Xstream. They have existing satellite capacity for video broadcasting. Existing operations in 18 countries in Asia/Africa. There seems to be good synergies between OneWeb and Bharti (more so than Softbank). This would make Airtel a global telecommunications provider rather than a regional one beyond just servicing their existing customers and territories better.

Beyond that, Bharti management might have seen SpaceX launching Starlink India down the road and want something that is comparable to fend that off. You can interpret it as a defensive move and an offensive move.

[gongora]

I haven't read this yet: https://casedocs.omniagentsolutions.com/cmsvol2/pub_47378/830270_367.pdf

[Kaputnik]

It's hard for me to see how the interests of a UK government looking for national technological pride (and potential GPS replacement) coincide with an Indian private telecom company presumably looking to provide satellite internet to rural Indian customers. It's a weird match, and it's also a bit strange that the UK is trumpeting this as their acquisition, their "sovereign global satellite system" -- are they an equal partner with Bharti Enterprises, since they both kicked in an equal amount for the purchase? And given that the UK and Bharti only own 90% of the company, it seems like the UK may not hold a majority equity stake.

If the UK government has majority control, then they only need to make sure OneWeb is profitable for the other investors. If OneWeb serves a national security purpose for the UK, it doesn't have to make money for the UK to be useful.

If the UK doesn't have a controlling interest in OneWeb, I'm not seeing the benefit.

Benefit to the UK government is a face-saving way of backing out of their promise to build their own GPS system.  $500 million wasted on a failed OneWeb is a deal compared to billions spent fielding a complete GPS system.

But it’s an extremely poor replacement for Galileo.

You are looking at this factually, rather than politically. The government hopes people won't look at the details, and most people won't.

I just don’t see how a satellite constellation designed for one purpose can just be repurposed for an utterly different task and people not notice it isn’t that effective if it is ever released commercially.

The general public generally don't pay attention to the finer details. And in any case most people are tribally divided into those who support and those who oppose the government. Facts don't tend to move people from one camp to the other.

Getting back on topic, I'm pleased to see the announcement today focusing more on communications rather than GNSS.

[gongora]

Looks like they're only paying $150M in cash, plus some equity in the new company, for the acquisition.  Most of the $1B is funding to continue operations.

[Tulse]

Looks like they're only paying $150M in cash, plus some equity in the new company, for the acquisition.  Most of the $1B is funding to continue operations.

"They" being the UK government, or the consortium including Bharti Enterprises?

[gongora]

Looks like they're only paying $150M in cash, plus some equity in the new company, for the acquisition.  Most of the $1B is funding to continue operations.

"They" being the UK government, or the consortium including Bharti Enterprises?

The consortium.

[Tulse]

Looks like they're only paying $150M in cash, plus some equity in the new company, for the acquisition.  Most of the $1B is funding to continue operations.

"They" being the UK government, or the consortium including Bharti Enterprises?

The consortium.

So essentially the UK purchased control of OneWeb for $75 million? Wow.

[gongora]

Looks like they're only paying $150M in cash, plus some equity in the new company, for the acquisition.  Most of the $1B is funding to continue operations.

"They" being the UK government, or the consortium including Bharti Enterprises?

The consortium.

So essentially the UK purchased control of OneWeb for $75 million? Wow.

The consortium also gives equity supposedly worth $100M to existing creditors, so $75M in cash, $50M worth of stock, plus committing another $375M in additional funding for each of the two consortium partners.  The pre-sale valuations from some analysts were not terribly realistic.  The US Government reminding everyone that they could decline to approve certain (Chinese) bidders also probably tamped things down a bit.

[Nomadd]

I haven't read this yet: https://casedocs.omniagentsolutions.com/cmsvol2/pub_47378/830270_367.pdf

Good luck reading that mess. If they want a sensible solution, the first step might be firing any firm who can come up with 85 pages of legalese garbage like that.

[TorenAltair]

On a practical side:
When we could expect resuming the satellite production and the launches?

I think that will take some time. First they have to finish all the paperwork, then hire people and getting them up to date regarding all the systems/designs/etc. When you replace a few people, you have enough to learn to new ones. In this case, there's basically nobody left. Then OneWeb stated at the beginning of the year that they will take a break in April I think to redesign/upgrade the sats which didn't happen. This might have to be done then as well. I leave integrating some kind of navsat-system off the table.
If they really intend to move sat production to the UK, this will take even more time. Factory, regulations in the UK, regulations from the EU.
For the launches I guess they will have to do some diplomatics as well as the UK and Russia's relationship is a bit "unfriendly".
I therefore would be surprised to see any launches in 2020.

[Rondaz]

Court documents reveal "Bidco Limited 100", the SPV formed by Bharti and the UK Gov to acquire @OneWeb, has won auction by offering

a) $150m cash consideration
b) $100m equity consideration
c) $110m interim funding
d) cash funding of up to $850m less c)

https://twitter.com/Megaconstellati/status/1279153868316778498

[RonM]

Scott Manley video on OneWeb purchase.

[meekGee]

It seems on paper like a very illogical investment. But as an unemployed UK engineer I'm all for it! With a bit of luck there could be a job in it.

Good luck, seriously, and yes, your post exemplifies the problem...  Space projects as job programs have traditionally yielded stagnation and inefficiency...  This one is going to be a record breaker.

The private market has the ability to get rid of bad programs ... It was just about to...  And in swept the cavalry.

Shrug.