Hughes Selected
by OneWeb for Ground System Development and
Production under New $250 Million Contract
Dec. 16, 2020
Hughes Network Systems, LLC
has been chosen by OneWeb, the Low Earth Orbit
(LEO) broadband satellite communications
company, to develop and manufacture essential
ground system technology for the new LEO
constellation. In a three-year contract valued
at approximately $250 million, Hughes will
produce the gateway electronics for the OneWeb
system as well as the core module that will be
used in every user terminal.
"Today's announcement of a
continued technology partnership with OneWeb
reflects our position as the trusted innovator
in the industry," said Pradman Kaul, president,
Hughes. "The ground system we develop will
enable reliable, low latency broadband data,
ideal for a wide range of customer
applications."
Neil Masterson, CEO,
OneWeb, said: "OneWeb is building a global
broadband network to deliver high-throughput,
low latency enterprise grade connectivity
services for a wide range of government,
commercial, and mobility use cases. Our goal is
to commercialize services in a year, and our
partnership with Hughes will be vital in helping
us launch a secure, trusted, resilient,
space-based network."
Designed by Hughes
engineers, each OneWeb gateway is capable of
10,000 hand-offs per second, orchestrating
handover and tracking of hundreds of gigabits of
data across hundreds of beams and millions of
users. Under an agreement with OneWeb prior to a
restructuring in March, seven gateways had been
installed with several more in various stages of
production. Under the new agreement, Hughes has
ramped up production on the gateway equipment
and resumed testing on the installed systems.
The agreement announced
today also calls for Hughes to develop and
manufacture the core module for the OneWeb user
terminals. Designed by Hughes, the core module
is uniquely adaptable across fixed as well as
aeronautical and maritime mobility terminals,
for either electronically or mechanically
steered antennas.
After filing for bankruptcy
protection in March, OneWeb is now under
ownership by a new consortium led by the U.K.
Government and Bharti Enterprises and in which
Hughes has agreed in principle to invest $50
million.