The UK government’s overseas operations are to make use of OneWeb’s satellite broadband network to enable access to secure, reliable communications across the world.
International diplomatic missions such as British embassies and high commissions will be able to route their internet traffic through the service to mitigate issues such as unreliable local broadband. FCDO Services, the Foreign Office’s trading fund, said that crisis response teams in areas hit by natural disasters could also use the service.
OneWeb’s original aim was to provide satellite internet worldwide, but by 2020 it was on the brink of bankruptcy, having launched just 74 of its planned 648 satellites. The UK government rescued the business by buying a major stake, alongside Indian telecommunications firm Bharti Global. Ministers at the time hoped that the purchase could revitalise the UK’s space sector, which was dealt a major blow in 2018 when it was forced to leave the EU’s Galileo satellite navigation project.
The...
