Bharti Group-backed OneWeb to provide satellite internet in Kazakhstan

Bharti Group-backed internet provider OneWeb on Monday said it has signed a formal agreement with the Kazakhstan government and local firms to provide satellite internet services in the country.

The announcement coincides with the 60th anniversary of the first human spaceflight. On April 12, 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin made history by becoming the first person to orbit the Earth.

Sunil Bharti Mittal, the founder of Bharti Group and the 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 formal agreement covers several areas of cooperation that include the 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 the firm's low-Earth orbit satellites, the statement said.

"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,” Mittal added.

OneWeb has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with subsidiaries of the Kazakhstan government's 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.