- A consortium of Her Majesty's Government (HMG) (through the UK Secretary of 
State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy) and Bharti Global Limited 
have committed to provide more than USD$1 billion to acquire OneWeb and fund 
the full restart of its business operations.

- OneWeb will look to resume operations as soon as possible and continue with 
progress towards providing global high-speed, low latency connectivity via its 
state-of-the-art satellite constellation.

- Agreement remains subject to approval by OneWeb's creditors, the Bankruptcy 
Court, and applicable regulators, with completion expected by the fourth 
quarter of 2020.

OneWeb, the communications company whose mission is to bring connectivity to 
governments, businesses, and people everywhere, announced today that it has 
entered into an agreement with a consortium led by HMG (through the UK 
Secretary of State for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy) and Bharti 
Global Limited ("Bharti") for the acquisition of the OneWeb business in 
connection with its court-supervised sale process. The bid is designed to 
capitalise the company sufficiently as a going concern to effectuate the full 
end-to-end deployment of the OneWeb system. 

Following a competitive process, the consortium's winning bid represents a 
strong offer that will enable OneWeb to successfully emerge from the Chapter 11 
process with a robust foundation on which to continue its progress towards 
commercial operations and secure OneWeb's position as a global leader in low 
latency connectivity.

The consortium brings immediate commercial value to OneWeb. Bharti, through 
Bharti Airtel, is the third largest mobile operator in the world, with over 425 
million customers. Bharti Airtel has its own extensive mobile broadband 
networks and enterprise business, which will act as the testing ground for all 
OneWeb products, services, and applications. Bharti will contribute significant 
contract value to OneWeb through its presence across South Asia and Sub-Saharan 
Africa, where the terrain necessitates the use of satellite-based connectivity, 
providing a near-term anchor customer for large-scale global deployment of 
OneWeb's services. 

The commitment of HMG accelerates and enhances OneWeb's global access. OneWeb 
will contribute to the UK government's ambition to join the first rank of space 
nations, along with its commitment to making the UK the world's leader in 
science and research and development.

OneWeb remains ready to continue building its communications system to deliver 
transformative connectivity available everywhere including to businesses and 
people in remote and rural parts of the world, starting with the Arctic, while 
also maintaining a strong corporate purpose to do good through its 
communications and other services. 

OneWeb has always believed that its system has tremendous potential. Demand for 
a new mix of connectivity services has been underscored during the pandemic, 
increasing the urgency through which businesses, people, communities must 
connect and operate. 

Adrian Steckel, CEO of OneWeb commented: "We are delighted to have concluded 
the sale process with such a positive outcome that will benefit not only 
OneWeb's existing creditors, but also our employees, vendors, commercial 
partners, and supporters worldwide who believe in the mission and in the 
promise of global connectivity. The combination of HMG and Bharti will bring 
immediate value as we develop as a global leader in low latency connectivity. 
This successful outcome for OneWeb underscores the confidence in our business, 
technology, and the work of our entire team. With differentiated and flexible 
technology, unique spectrum assets and a compelling market opportunity ahead of 
us, we are eager to conclude the process and get back to launching our 
satellites as soon as possible."

The transaction remains subject to approval by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, as 
well as regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions. The transaction 
is expected to close by the fourth quarter of 2020. In the meantime, the 
purchasing consortium will work with the OneWeb management team to further 
develop the strategy and business plan and to resume the Company's launch 
schedule.

Additional information about the Company's Chapter 11 cases can be found at 
http://www.omniagentsolutions.com/onewebglobal, or by calling the Company's 
claims agent at 1-866-680-8121.

Milbank LLP is serving as OneWeb's legal counsel, FTI Consulting is serving as 
its restructuring advisor, and Guggenheim Securities, LLC is serving as its 
investment banker.

HMG is advised by Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP and Lazard Ltd. Bharti is advised 
by Herbert Smith Freehills LLP  and Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP.

About OneWeb

OneWeb's vision is to enable Internet access for governments, businesses and 
people everywhere. It is implementing a constellation of Low Earth Orbit 
satellites with a network of global gateway stations and a range of user 
terminals to provide an affordable, fast, high-bandwidth and low-latency 
communications service, connected to the IoT future and a pathway to 5G for 
everyone, everywhere.

Find out more at http://www.oneweb.world 

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1087486/OneWeb_Logo.jpg 

SOURCE: OneWeb