British space tech firm OneWeb has launched another 36 satellite broadband into space as part of its constellation. OneWeb is a satellite communications firm partly owned by the Indian conglomerate Bharti Global and the UK government.
The latest 36 satellite broadband were launched at 02:50 GMT aboard the Soyuz rocket from Russia to bring internet coverage on the northern areas of 50 degrees latitude for the first time.
According to MailOnline, this is the fifth time that the British competitor of SpaceX has launched satellites into low Earth orbit, bringing the total in-orbit constellation to 146 satellites. The company hopes to launch a total of 648 satellites by 2022.
OneWeb Expands Its Constellation to 146 Satellites
According to BBC News, the additional 36 satellites will allow engineers to further test OneWeb's system to deliver broadband internet connections from space.
OneWeb's new management expects to offer a commercial service this autumn to areas in the northern latitudes, particularly in the UK, Northern Europe, Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Iceland, and the Arctic Seas. They plan a global roll-out of connectivity in mid-2022.
Chief executive Neil Masterson explained that "we have what we call 'five to 50' (degrees latitude). So, that's five launches we need to do to get to this coverage of basically the south coast of the UK to the North Pole."
He told BBC News that they plan to have between eight to ten more launched this year that would all be completed by June to provide internet service.
Furthermore, the company said that their testing program is progressing well and that their demonstration earlier this month for the US Department of Defense has yielded a downlink data rate of up to 500 megabits per second with a latency of as low as 32 milliseconds.
Although it seems that OneWeb has a similar program with its chief competitor, the internet mega-constellation business of SpaceX's Starlink, they still have many differences.
As of now, Starlink has already launched 1,320 satellites in orbit after its latest launch on Wednesday. They have also started beta-testing with high-latitude customers and released guidelines on how to set up their Starlink kits.
ALSO READ : How to Set Up Starlink Internet Service at Home
How Is OneWeb Different From SpaceX's Starlink?
It cannot be helped that OneWeb is being compared with its competitor in the industry, SpaceX's Starlink. Both companies are building constellations of many satellites in low Earth orbit that aims to provide internet connection anywhere in the world from space.
However, OneWeb CEO Neil Masterson said that he does not see the space business of Elon Musk as a direct competitor. Masterson joined OneWeb in November last year after the company emerged from bankruptcy.
Masterson told CNBC that their company's approach to the industry is very different from Starlink because the former focuses on enterprise customers. OneWeb will not be selling to direct customers but will provide their services to infrastructure to existing operators that will enable them to offer branded satellite internet to areas not covered by fiber.
"There are some areas where we will compete, I suspect, particularly around serving governments, but governments will always buy more than one service," Masterson said. "I think there'll be multiple players who will be able to be able to be successful in addressing their market."
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