OneWeb, previously known as WorldVu Satellites Ltd is a global communications company building a capability to deliver broadband satellite internet services to a geographically global demographic. Greg Wyler founded the company in 2012. In 2020, the company entered bankruptcy after failing to raise the requisite capital to complete the build and deployment of the remaining 90% of the network. The company laid off approximately 85% of its approximately 500 employees but retained the capability to control its operational satellites during the period of court protection. The company recently came into news as it was revived under the joint ownership of the UK government and Bharti Global.

Recent Developments in OneWeb

After the revival, the company will proceed with its satellite constellation plan.  OneWeb has recently gained a lot of funding. According to the ExecutiveBiz, OneWeb has now raised $1.4B in total funding after it received additional investments from Hughes Network Systems and SoftBank Group. This funding will enable OneWeb to realise their plan of having a constellation consisting of 648 satellites in low Earth orbit by 2022. The main aim behind this is that it will enable broadband connectivity and low-latency communication services to people all around the globe. Despite gaining a significant amount of funding, they are still only halfway through. This is probably why the company has decided to cut back on the number of constellations. But the company insists that despite the drop in numbers, the constellation architecture will remain the same.

“This solidification of OneWeb’s constellation demonstrates the commitment and vision of OneWeb’s new owners, the UK Government and Bharti Global who are dedicated to deploying a cost-effective, responsible, and groundbreaking satellite network to deliver global broadband.

OneWeb remains focused on launching its first-generation system of 648 satellites and is on track to start regional commercial services within a year. Today’s streamlining activities highlight OneWeb’s plan for global connectivity services and for future generations and possibilities for the network.”

Aim of OneWeb

The main aim of OneWeb is to “deliver broadband connectivity worldwide to bridge the global Digital Divide by offering everyone, everywhere access including to the Internet of Things (IoT) future and a pathway to 5G”.

By mid-2022, OneWeb plans to launch high-speed internet in India as well. Mittal, the owner, stated that “For rural broadband, I would say Africa, India and less developed countries will benefit from OneWeb’s satellite network. They will have the biggest benefit. For critical applications such as defence, the ministry of defence in the UK is already engaging with us because they need connectivity in very remote areas”. The satellite network will prove advantageous for the 5G network as it will penetrate even the areas fibre and radio waves could not reach. 

Starlink

Just like OneWeb, Starlink is another satellite internet constellation. It is being constructed by Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp. The constellation will consist of thousands of mass-produced small satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO), working in combination with ground transceivers. SpaceX plans to sell some of the satellites for military, scientific, or exploratory purposes. The estimated cost of this project is US$10 billion. The company has already launched 1000 satellites and people are eager to enjoy the high-speed internet.

Recent Developments in Starlink

Starlink has launched a number of satellites, and there are now roughly 960 functioning satellites in orbit, heralding an age of mega-constellations that have prompted worries about visual pollution for astronomers. But SpaceX claims that the compact architectural design of Starlink satellites and the company following all the regulatory and industry standards will enable them to keep the space clean. SpaceX has permission from regulators to launch up to 12,000 satellites and has been planning to send up 42 batches of 60 satellites in a year, to add to its commercial constellation. Right at the beginning of this year, SpaceX launched the 17th batch, consisting of 60 Starlink Satellites using a Falcon 9 rocket. They plan to launch many more to reach their goal soon. Starlink has constantly been testing their satellite internet connection. On 4 November 2020, SpaceX conducted its one-millionth Starlink test and doubled the connection speed. Starlink beta testers have been reporting speeds over 150 megabits per second, above the range announced for the public beta test.

Aim of Starlink

SpaceX intends to provide satellite internet connectivity to underserved areas of the planet, as well as provide competitively priced service to urban areas. According to ElectronicsWeekly, “The goal (of SpaceX) is to build a high-speed global satellite internet service, for which Elon Musk’s company is in competition with the likes of Amazon and OneWeb. With download speeds of up to 50MBps, the aim is to support gaming-level Internet access.”  SpaceX claims that “During the beta, users can expect to see data speeds vary from 50Mb/s to 150Mb/s and latency from 20ms to 40ms in most locations over the next several months as we enhance the Starlink system.”

Apart from the goal of high-speed internet, SpaceX also plans to develop a similar satellite communication for Mars.

Conclusion

With the upcoming OneWeb and Starlink satellite constellations, we surely are headed towards a new era. These projects will revolutionize the world of telecommunications. High-speed satellite internet, in even the remotest corners of the world, is a dream that will be realized soon. With consistent launches, Starlink is making huge leaps towards its goal. Needless to say, it has the capability to provide a tough competition to the OneWeb satellite constellation. With OneWeb scaling back its number of satellites, Starlink has an upper hand as they show no sign of slowing down.

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Recent Economic Troubles

Britain experienced a 20.4% month-on-month contraction, with a further 5.8% drop in March, which left the economy in tatters, eroding eighteen years of growth, in a mere two months. The vital services sector, which makes up the bulk of the English economy, was 24.2% down as compared to the pre-pandemic days. The manufacturing sector, which was severely affected by the social distancing norms, saw a functioning of 22.3% lower than its levels in February. Taking into account the following figures and the fact that the total economic output underwent a decline by 24.5%, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development has said, “Britain, with its huge services industries which have been hit hard by the social distancing measures, could suffer the worst downturn among the countries that it covers, with an 11.5% contribution this year. Official figures have hinted that the economic impact brought about by the Virus is so devastating that the GDP may not recover till 2024.”

On that note, the Annual Fiscal Report published by the Office of Budget Responsibility, says that as the government winds down its furlough wage subsidy, unemployment in the country would rise sharply. This unemployment would be the product of the redundancy brought upon 10 to 20 percent of the 9.4 million jobs covered under the furlough scheme. Against this backdrop of rising unemployment, the economy is predicted to be 3 percent smaller than the predicted size for the year 2025. Economists, trade unions and businesses have warned against a long and uphill road towards recovery and one marked with substantial economic turbulences. The slight economic improvement in May was a result of the release of pent up demand, rather than an optimistic sign of economic recovery. The UK economy might display short term signs of improvement, but this may not last long, owing to the permanent scarring caused by the pandemic and the decline of the government’s fiscal support as the restrictions are eased gradually.

Hopes of an Economic Recovery

However, with the relaxation in the restrictions, Britain is seeing a ray of hope, as the economy is recovering faster than it was predicted to do so. Even if we assume the continuation of some restrictions, the British GDP is expected to grow by 6.5% by 2021. British economists and most notably the Chief Economist of the Bank of England, Andy Haldane has emphasized a recovery pattern, which he sees the British economy follow post this crisis. The pattern that Haldane has been expounding can be termed as the V-shaped recovery, where rapid economic growth is experienced following a steep downturn in economic activity. Expectations of a more rapid recovery, than what had previously been predicted, has led markets to achieve one of the strongest quarters on record. A prime example of this is the FTSE 100, in the UK rebounding by 9.1% over the quarter.

The biggest factor contributing to recovery, is the sooner than expected, materially faster and strong consumer spending. However, the Bank of England has emphasized the fact that the most important thing for the country to avoid is a repeat of high unemployment rates, as experienced in the 1980s. However, there persists the fear also mentioned by the Bank of England, that a rapidly growing economy may fuel the fire of inflation.

Job Retention Scheme

In an effort to plan for a speedy economic recovery, the UK government has diverted tremendous efforts coupled with an array of resources to preserve jobs. The government is of the belief that by doing so it prevents the long process of reattaching individuals to employers and jobs, allowing people a simple return to their work once restrictions have been relaxed. Within the scheme, the government pays for 80% of the employees’ salaries. In the month of May, the number exceeded 8.5 million, effectively bringing in 30% of the private sector workforce under the government’s monetary protection. Experts have predicted that had it not been for the Job Retention Scheme, the country would have experienced an unemployment rate of about 20%. However, the problem has not altogether been avoided as even with the scheme the unemployment levels are said to rise to 8% in the second half of the year. This is especially true for large cooperations who will have to make tough decisions regarding redundancies, owing to the lack of demand in the long term.

Conclusion

However, the return to pre-pandemic levels of activity is going to be severely affected by the permanent scaring done to the economy. Numerous businesses have failed in the time since the world pandemic began and many more are predicted to fail during the recovery phase when demand and revenue are still weak. This is due to the simple reason that during times of recovery businesses tend to look for additional working capital to finance inventories and growth, but recent trends have shown that banks might not be willing to extend loans to those businesses which they might consider weak or too vulnerable to economic shocks. Across Europe, we estimate that default rates in the speculative-grade category alone could rise to 8.5% by March 2021, from 2.7% in April. The following statistics provide a sufficient indication of the failure rates in the UK. Business failures have a knock-on effect on the economy. This happens when businesses fail, train relationships will end, supply chains will be broken and the production capacity will shrink. These factors deter the economy from growing back to its full potential and achieving the economic levels as seen during the pre-pandemic days. For the long term, things are still not very clear, there is a high possibility of the world adapting in such a manner that we see the emergence of new businesses, that might replace the struggling ones right now, and boost the capacity and long term growth potential.

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