Bharti Enterprises-led OneWeb has entered into an agreement with Elon Musk’s SpaceX to resume satellite launches. The partnership is limited to launching of satellites and the firms have not shared financial and other details.

OneWeb, which is building a constellation of low earth orbit (LEO) satellites, had to abandon its planned launch on March 4 in the wake of Russia-Ukraine war. The launch was to happen from Baikonur, located in Russia-controlled area of Kazakhstan. But since the UK government has around 19.8% stake in OneWeb, Russian space agency Roscosmos had demanded withdrawal of UK from the project. Also, a guarantee was sought from the firm that the satellites had no military purpose. Russia has been served with sanctions from the US, UK and European Union for invading Ukraine.

So far, OneWeb has launched 428 satellites and plans to launch services across the world by the end of this year. Overall, the company has to launch 648 LEO satellites. “The first launch with SpaceX is anticipated in 2022 and will add to OneWeb’s total in-orbit constellation that currently stands at 428 satellites, or 66% of the fleet. OneWeb’s network will deliver high-speed, low-latency global connectivity,” a company statement said.

The London-headquartered company, in which Bharti Enterprises has around 32% stake, had earlier planned to complete the launches by June 2022. The deal with SpaceX will allow OneWeb to complete its remaining satellite launches from Texas, US.

When it comes to India, the department of telecommunications (DoT) has given a letter of intent (LoI) to OneWeb for starting services. OneWeb has already indicated that it would remain a B2B service provider and has no plans to offer services to retail customers. OneWeb and Hughes Network Systems have signed a strategic six-year pact to provide satellite broadband services in the country. The services will be provided by Hughes Communications India (HCIPL), which is a joint venture between Hughes and Bharti Airtel. The deal follows the memorandum of understanding signed by the companies in September 2021.

Satellite communications is extremely useful for providing broadband services in remote, hilly, and inaccessible regions. It is also the only medium through which communication can be established in disaster zones when normal communication gets affected. In satellite communications, services are provided through Leo satellites, through which a box is suspended in remote and hilly regions which creates Wi-Fi spots through which broadband services are provided.