OneWeb satellite constellation

The OneWeb satellite constellation—formerly known as WorldVu—is a proposed constellation of approximately 648 satellites expected to provide global Internet broadband service to individual consumers as early as 2019. The constellation is proposed by the company WorldVu Satellites Ltd., which has used the alternate name L5 in various regulatory filings. OneWeb is registered in St. Helier, Jersey and is expected to require up to US$3 billion in capital by the time the full constellation becomes operational in 2019–2020.

The 648 communication satellites will operate in circular low Earth orbit, at approximately 750 miles (1,200 km) altitude, transmitting and receiving in the Ku band of the radio frequency spectrum. Most of the capacity of the initial 648 satellites has been sold, and OneWeb is considering nearly quadrupling the size of the satellite constellation by adding 1,972 additional satellites that it has priority rights to.

The company's business plan is to attempt to "reach hundreds of millions of potential users residing in places without [existing] broadband access."

Early reports of the potential involvement of Google in offering broadband internet services surfaced in February 2014, when a "very large [satellite] constellation" was rumored to be as large as 1600 satellites.

By June 2014, WorldVu (which would later be renamed OneWeb) had acquired the satellite spectrum that was formerly owned by SkyBridge, a company that went bankrupt in 2000 in an attempt to offer broadband Internet services via satellite.

As of September 2014^[update], the WorldVu company had 30 employees. In September 2014, several Google employees who had joined Google as part of the acquisition of O3b Networks in 2013—Greg Wyler, Brian Holz and David Bettinger—left Google to become a part of WorldVu Satellites Ltd. The rights to the radio frequency spectrum were transferred to WorldVu. As of August 2014^[update], it was unclear why the WorldVu team left Google, as well as what Google's role might be in WorldVu going forward. At the time, WorldVu was working closely with SpaceX and SpaceX' founder Elon Musk, although no formal relationship had been established and no launch commitments had been made.

...
Wikipedia