Government of Kazakhstan Picks OneWeb to Accelerate Connectivity

Bharti group backed OneWeb, the global communications network powered from Space, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with subsidiaries of the Ministry of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry: national satellite operator Republican Centre of Space Communications JSC, National Company Kazakhstan Gharysh Sapary and Ghalam LLP, a spacecraft component supplier.

The MoU develops OneWeb’s partnership with the Government of Kazakhstan which began in 2020 to support Kazakhstan’s ambition to digitize its economy and become a pioneer of the latest satellite communications technologies.

The MoU encompasses several areas of cooperation, including use of OneWeb’s low latency, high throughput satellite connectivity platform to provide broadband to remote and hard-to-reach rural communities, building a ground station to provide connectivity to Central Asian countries and localisation of the supply chain for OneWeb’s Low Earth Orbit satellites.

At the same time, OneWeb has now received its Certificate of Incorporation for OneWeb Kazakhstan Ltd registered in Astana International Financial Centre. This subsidiary company will facilitate the establishment of a Low Earth Orbit Centre of Excellence in the country and enable OneWeb’s service delivery across the whole of Central Asia. OneWeb always partners with local telecom operators who know the market and their customers and seeks to distribute its connectivity services to the private and public sector, including businesses, schools, hospitals and civil services across Eurasia.

OneWeb’s Executive Chairman and Chairman of Bharti Enterprises, Sunil Bharti Mittal and OneWeb CEO Neil Masterson are in Kazakhstan to commemorate the 60th Anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s first orbit of the Earth and celebrate the occasion with a special OneWeb Launch mission patch.

Sunil Bharti Mittal, Executive Chairman of OneWeb said: “I am delighted to visit Kazakhstan for the first time on this occasion of the 60th Anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s first human spaceflight. Today, we can honour his legacy with a constellation of OneWeb satellites orbiting the Earth to bring connectivity to all locations where it’s needed. The Government of Kazakhstan continues to see the importance of bridging the digital divide and enabling the digitization of its economy using innovative and modern satellite technology. OneWeb has pledged to work together to bring about these opportunities for the country.”

Demonstrations of OneWeb’s connectivity services are planned for June in the country to showcase how OneWeb’s constellation of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites and user terminals provide high speed, low latency, seamless broadband connectivity.

OneWeb is the global connectivity platform powered from space, headquartered in London, enabling connectivity for governments, businesses, and communities. Owned by Bharti Enterprises and the UK Government, OneWeb 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. There have been two launches of OneWeb’s satellites from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and the company currently has a total of 146 satellites in orbit.