A joint venture of Russian company Satellite System Gonets a subsidiary of state space corporation Roscosmos and UK OneWeb will have no access to the UK company's technology because it was created for the sole purpose of selling OneWeb services in Russia, the UK company said.
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 29th December, 2018) A joint venture of Russian company Satellite System Gonets a subsidiary of state space corporation Roscosmos and UK OneWeb will have no access to the UK company's technology because it was created for the sole purpose of selling OneWeb services in Russia, the UK company said.The joint venture was established in 2017, with the UK company receiving 60 percent of the shares and Gonets obtaining the other 40 percent. The venture is now being restructured and the Russian company is set to become the owner of the majority of its shares. At the same time, OneWeb has refuted reports claiming that it had offered some of the shares to the Russian government.
"OneWeb is in the process of restructuring its existing commercial joint venture with its Russian partner, Gonets, to comply with certain regulatory requirements in Russia. The joint venture is solely for the commercialization of OneWeb's satellite broadband services to customers in Russia. The joint venture will not have access to OneWeb's satellite technology or related know-how," the company said in a statement published on its official website on Friday.
The company also stressed that the Russian government was not among the numerous potential investors in the company's satellite constellation project.
"There is a lot of excitement surrounding OneWeb, as we're nearing the launch of our system early next year, and we have been approached by many potential investors. The Russian Government is not one of them," the statement added.
OneWeb is currently implementing its project aimed at creating a constellation of hundreds of communication satellites that would provide broadband internet access worldwide. The company initially planned to launch around 900 satellites but has recently decided to reduce the constellation to 600.
In the meanwhile, the company has so far failed to obtain the necessary frequencies to start operating in Russia. The Russian Federal Security Service said in October that Moscow could not verify the company's claims that the satellite constellation project would not be used for gathering intelligence.
At the same time, Roscosmos has a contract with OneWeb for 21 commercial launches of 672 satellites on the Soyuz launch vehicles from the Kourou, Baikonur and Vostochny cosmodromes from 2017 to 2019.
On Monday, Reuters reported, citing sources, that OneWeb had offered the Russian government to acquire 12.5 percent of the company's shares, trying to persuade Moscow to provide it with the frequency bands for the satellite project.
