Credit: OneWeb Ltd

Virgin and Qualcomm announced today that they will be leading investments in OneWeb Ltd, a satellite internet company founded by Greg Wyler, the founder of satellite internet company O3b Networks. OneWeb aims to build and launch a satellite constellation to provide internet directly to users.

The size of the investment has not been disclosed, but Qualcomm Chairman Paul Jacobs and Virgin founder Richard Branson will be joining the board of OneWeb.

The satellite constellation will be comprised of 648 low-weight, low orbit, low latency satellites that will work with mobile providers on the ground to provide high-speed internet connectivity to areas where its too expensive to provide conventionally.

We are excited by OneWebs bold vision to launch this major satellite constellation and be one of its key early investors, Branson said in a statement. Imagine the possibilities for the three billion people in hard to reach areas who are currently not connected.

In addition to Virgin being an investor in OneWeb, it was also announced that Virgin Galactic will launch the satellites. They will do so using their LauncherOne spacecraft, which is designed to put commercial satellites in orbit.

Virgin Galactic has announced that its actively hiring people for the LauncherOne program in order to prepare for what would be its first commercial customer. The LauncherOne is still under construction, although the engines have been built and test fired.

Were excited for the opportunity for Virgin Galactics LauncherOne programme to help make it possible through low cost, reliable and frequent satellite launches, added Branson.

Competition Or Opportunity For SpaceX?

One interesting aspect of this Virgin/OneWeb news is that it comes on the heels of SpaceX CEO Elon Musk telling Bloomberg News earlier this week that it would be building a satellite manufacturing center in Seattle. Thats because, in November, the Wall Street Journal ran a report claiming that SpaceX was going to start building internet satellites, too. And in that report, it was claimed theyd be partnering with WorldVu Satellites Ltd. (which operates as OneWeb) to do it. A few days after the WSJ broke that story, Musk confirmed on Twitter that SpaceX was going to be developing internet satellites. However, he also stated that WSJ was wrong on several important points. The article shouldnt have been written on rumor and hearsay.

Originally posted here:

Virgin And Qualcomm Are Investing In Satellite Internet Company OneWeb