Bharti Global Aims To Be OneWeb's Largest Shareholder; Plans To Invest $500 million

The Global arm of Bharti Enterprises is all set to make more investment in the OneWeb. The company is planning to invest $500 million (Rs. 3,714 crores) in the satellite internet company, which is likely to launch its services in India soon. Bharti Global is expected to complete the investment in the second half of this year.

"OneWeb has completed its transformation with the exercise of a call option by Bharti to invest an additional $500 million into the company...the call option is expected to be completed in the second half of 2021, subject to regulatory approvals," said Bharti-backed OneWeb.

Bharti Global Share In OneWeb

It will also increase its share in the OneWeb. The firm's overall investment will increase to $1 billion and holding of about 38.6 percent in the satellite internet firm. After completing the deal, Eutelsat, SoftBank, and the UK Government will have 19.3 percent each in the company. However, Hughes Network Systems will hold a 3.5 percent share.

"The final OneWeb shareholding structure may alter to the extent a member of the shareholders' group chooses to exercise a part of this call option," it added.

This development comes soon after Bharti Chairman Sunil Mittal said that half of the world is still offline, which is a shame. He added that LEO satcoms technology can fulfill the needs of remote and rural communications.

Notably, OneWeb wants to deliver high-speed internet in rural and remote areas. The company is also planning to start its operations in India in 2022 and already filed an application for a GMPCS permit.

Starlink Investment Plans

Meanwhile, Reuters reported that Starlink is likely to invest between $20 billion to $30 billion. In fact, the company has joined hands with two telecom operators in major countries. The company is facing stiff competition with two players, such as OneWeb and Amazon subsidiary called Kuiper Systems.

Both Starlink and Amazon are looking for a partnership with Indian telecom operators, which is we expect that the former has more chances to join hands with Reliance Jio as the latter is under legal dispute with Reliance Industries. So, Amazon and Jio partnership seems difficult.