OneWeb to launch its satellite internet worldwide this year

UK satellite communication operator OneWeb, which is the main competitor of Starlink of SpaceX, will launch its satellite internet worldwide already this year.

As Bloomberg reports, the company already has 618 satellites in Earth orbit, the last 36 of which were sent recently. This number of satellites is quite enough to launch satellite internet during this year.

According to Neil Masterson, the CEO of OneWeb, in May, broadband internet connection will be available to companies and government customers in 48 US states, and global coverage will be possible by the end of the year.

As per Masterson, however, his company does not compete with Elon Musk's SpaceX. Starlink satellite connection is now available in many countries, virtually all over the Earth, but it is aimed at the consumer market, whereas OneWeb plans to offer its services to corporate customers and government companies. In addition, OneWeb became a client of SpaceX when it ended cooperation with Russia's Roscosmos last spring.

The second largest system of low-orbit satellites is owned by OneWeb. In the first place is Starlink, which has 3000 such devices in orbit. Amazon will also compete with them in the future, as it plans to launch its own satellite communication system which will be called Project Kuiper.