OneWeb to seek access to the U.S. market 

28 April 2016

OneWeb filed an application with the Federal Communications Commission seeking access to the U.S. market for its planned low earth orbit satellite system.  

OneWeb's pioneering non-geostationary satellite constellation will make broadband access available to many individuals across the world who have limited or no access today. When fully deployed, OneWeb’s system will support a wide variety of important services in the U.S. and globally, including cellular backhaul, mobility services, community and residential Internet access, and emergency communications.  

Matt O'Connell, CEO OneWeb, said: "The Federal Communications Commission’s grant of our petition will bring OneWeb closer to providing the remaining 4.2 billion people access to high-speed Internet. It will also help realise the Commission's vision and promise of broadband for everyone in the U.S.  The OneWeb satellite constellation will help close the digital gap between developing and developed regions, aligning OneWeb’s objectives with public initiatives and goals. 

Consisting of hundreds of satellites, OneWeb’s constellation will operate in low earth orbit at an altitude of 1,200 km, enabling low latency Internet access that is comparable with terrestrial solutions.  Low latency is required for supporting cloud-based applications such as trading, e-games, e-medicine, VOIP, and machine-to-machine services.  The system will have low-cost, easy to install Ku-band user terminals, and a small number of globally distributed Ka-band gateway antennas.  

OneWeb’s application demonstrates that its system will comply with both the Commission's rules and the International Telecommunication Union's requirements, for highly spectrum-efficient sharing of the Ku-band and Ka-band with geostationary satellites.  Its progressive pitch technology is designed to modify the orientation and power level of the OneWeb satellites as they pass over the equator, thus enabling sharing with geostationary satellite operators.  

The company  is supported by global leaders in the technology, aerospace, communications, and consumer markets, which collectively have provided more than $500 million in  financing to OneWeb, including Airbus Group, Bharti Enterprises, Coca-Cola Company, Echostar, Grupo Salinas, Intelsat, MDA, Qualcomm Inc. and Virgin Group.