OneWeb, one of the companies looking to use constellations of satellites to provide competition to terrestrial and wireless broadband providers, said it has gotten over $1 billion in launch insurance as it continues to build out a low-earth-orbit (LEO) satellite system.
The insurance, secured by insurance uber-broker Marsh, covers physical loss or damage to the remaining satellites and vehicles yet to launch. The company has already delivered enough of the satellites to cover Canada, the UK, and Northern Europe, saying it can begin commercial service later this year.
It has a launch of 34 more satellites planned for later this week.
Back in June 2017, the FCC unanimously approved OneWeb's request to deliver its service in the U.S. market (as part of a global operation), including particularly hard-to-reach and expensive-to-reach rural areas, after FCC chairman Ajit Pai proposed approving it as a way to help close the digital divide and promote private sector investment.
The company filed for bankruptcy in 2020, suggested it was on the verge of getting financing when the pandemic hit. It had already invested billions of dollars in the enterprise. It was able to get new funding from, among others, the British government, and emerged from bankruptcy late last year.
