Bharti Enterprises is backing a bid for collapsed SoftBank-backed satellite tv for pc operator OneWeb, two sources stated, in a consortium that’s supported by the British authorities. OneWeb filed for Chapter 11 chapter on the finish of March after its largest investor SoftBank Group pulled funding, with an public sale for the startup because of begin on Thursday. London-based funding agency Unbound is run by the son of Sunil Bharti Mittal, whose pursuits embrace telecoms and actual property.
The British authorities is weighing up a 20 p.c stake in OneWeb, one of many sources stated.
Bharti, which beforehand invested within the startup, didn’t reply to a request for remark.
OneWeb and the British authorities declined to remark.
OneWeb, based in 2014 by entrepreneur Greg Wyler, deliberate to launch 650 satellites into low Earth orbit to offer common Internet however was locked in a relentless wrestle to lift funds. An early entrant in a sector with challengers together with Elon Musk’s SpaceX, the startup’s spectrum and rights will turn out to be more and more priceless in the long term because the house enterprise heats up, one of many sources stated. Other events, together with these focusing on the spectrum, are additionally circling, sources have stated.
Canada’s Telesat is , one of many sources stated.
OneWeb’s earlier buyers embrace chip provider Qualcomm and Airbus, with which it ran a satellite tv for pc manufacturing facility based mostly in Florida.
Bharti’s bid was first reported by Bloomberg, with the British authorities’s backing reported by the Financial Times.
© Thomson Reuters 2020
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