Min denies govt talks with OneWeb to swap shares for frequencies

MOSCOW, Dec 25 (PRIME) – The government is in no negotiations for an option for 12.5% of shares in OneWeb in exchange for Russian frequencies, Digital Development Minister Konstantin Noskov said late on Monday.

“The signing of an option agreement with company OneWeb in exchange for frequencies was discussed neither on the level of a minister, a deputy prime minister, nor the prime minister of the government. This issue is not discussed now,” Noskov told reporters.

Reuters news agency reported that OneWeb offered Russia 12.5% of its shares in an upcoming project to cover the whole globe with the satellite Internet, for frequencies to work in Russia in a conversation with Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev at a meeting in Moscow several months ago.

The U.K. satellite system of the high-speed Internet, OneWeb, will comprise 672 space apparatuses on two orbits.

OneWeb has been unable to obtain frequencies for work in Russia for more than a year.

The Federal Security Service’s spokesman Vladimir Sadovnikov said in October that OneWeb was a threat to the country’s national safety and could be used for intelligence.

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