Russia’s Gonets, UK’s OneWeb to jointly launch satellite Internet

ST. PETERSBURG, Jun 1 (PRIME) -- Russian satellite operator Gonets and U.K. communications company OneWeb signed an agreement on Thursday to set up a joint venture to create the world’s largest satellite constellation for the mobile Internet.

OneWeb’s first satellites will be put into orbit with Russia’s Soyuz launch vehicles in 2018. The U.K. company plans to deploy the world’s largest satellite group to provide all with the Internet at accessible prices.

The U.K. company’s CEO Eric Beranger said a total constellation will count 882 satellites under the project, and launches will be conducted from 2018 from facilities of Baikonur in Kazakhstan and of Kourou in French Guiana.

Gonets CEO Dmitry Bakanov said the Russian company will act as an operator of OneWeb in Russia, and satellite groups of the two partners will not overlap.

“The Russian satellite constellation of Gonets won’t be tied to OneWeb’s one; we won’t compete. Now there is a task to create the joint venture, I’ll be able to give more details closer to September,” Bakanov said.

The partnership, whose value is not disclosed, has no time limits, he said.

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