96-580: Eutelsat OneWeb (legally Network Access Associates Ltd. ) is a subsidiary of Eutelsat Group providing broadband satellite Internet services in low Earth orbit (LEO) . The company is headquartered in London, and has offices in Virginia, US and a satellite manufacturing facility in Florida – Airbus OneWeb Satellites – that is a joint venture with Airbus Defence and Space . The company
192-1013: A temporary partnership for the purpose of carrying out a particular project, such partnership can also be called a joint venture where the parties are " co-venturers ". The venture can be a business JV (for example, Dow Corning), a project/asset JV intended to pursue one specific project only, or a JV aimed at defining standards or serving as an "industry utility" that provides a narrow set of services to industry participants. Some major joint ventures include United Launch Alliance , Vevo , Hulu , Virgin Media O2 , Penske Truck Leasing , and Owens-Corning . According to Gerard Baynham of Water Street Partners, there has been much negative press about joint ventures, but objective data indicate that they may actually outperform wholly owned and controlled affiliates . He writes, "A different narrative emerged from our recent analysis of U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) data, collected from more than 20,000 entities. According to
288-439: A 2.2 percent average ROA, while wholly owned and controlled affiliates in the U.S. only realized a 0.7 percent ROA." In European law , the term "joint venture" is an exclusive legal concept, better defined under the rules of company law . In France , the term "joint venture" is variously translated as "association d'entreprises", "entreprise conjointe", "coentreprise" or "entreprise commune". A JV can be brought about in
384-473: A 24% equity stake. Eutelsat's stake decreased to 19.3% when Bharti Global increased its holding in June 2021. In May 2021, OneWeb announced plans to buy TrustComm, a U.S.-based managed satellite communications provider. After the purchase, the company became OneWeb's government distribution partner, named OneWeb Technologies. In May 2021, OneWeb's seventh launch took the number of satellites in orbit to 218, to create
480-517: A company. By its formation, the JV becomes a new entity with the implications that: On the receipt of the Certificate of Incorporation, a company can commence its business. This is a legal area and is fraught with difficulty as the laws of countries differ, particularly on the enforceability of "heads of" or shareholder agreements. For some legal reasons, it may be called a Memorandum of Understanding . It
576-422: A competition among American and European manufacturers. In July 2016, one year after the initial announcement, OneWeb stated they were on schedule. In December 2016, OneWeb raised US$ 1 billion from SoftBank Group Corp. and US$ 200 million from existing investors. In February 2017, OneWeb announced that it expected to sell all of its capacity by launch time. At the time, it had formally announced capacity sold for
672-456: A cost of fewer than US$ 500,000". OneWeb announced that it planned to form a joint venture with the winning bidder and open a new facility for manufacturing the new smallsats . In January 2015, The Wall Street Journal reported that WorldVu, now operating under the name OneWeb Ltd, had secured funding from Virgin Group and Qualcomm to build and launch the constellation. OneWeb also divulged that
768-501: A factory to manufacture high-volume low-cost satellites, and that "initial talks had been held with state officials in Florida and Colorado " about potentially locating a factory in those states, as well as that SpaceX would likely launch the satellites. Also in November 2014, WorldVu issued a tender "to satellite manufacturers for 640 125-kg satellites", asking for responses by mid-December 2014, having secured regulatory approval for use of
864-691: A joint Gogo and Intelsat venture. OneWeb's founder and then executive chairman Greg Wyler announced he was considering nearly quadrupling the size of the satellite constellation by adding 1972 additional satellites that OneWeb had priority rights to. With the original capital raise of US$ 500 million in 2015, plus the US$ 1 billion investment of SoftBank in 2016, previous "investors committed to an additional US$ 200 million, bringing OneWeb's total capital raised to US$ 1.7 billion". A merger arrangement with Intelsat that had been in negotiations during May 2017 collapsed in June 2017 and did not go forward. The constellation
960-549: A joint venture, OneWeb Satellites, with the European company Airbus Defence and Space in order to manufacture its satellites in higher volume and at lower cost than any satellites previously built by Airbus. A manufacturing facility was built in Merritt Island, Florida . Initial satellite production at the new facility began in mid-2019 and by January 2020, the factory reached the target production rate of two satellites per day. By
1056-490: A launch agreement with United States launch provider SpaceX to launch the remaining satellites on Falcon 9 rockets, with the first launch expected no earlier than summer 2022. On 20 April 2022 OneWeb announced a similar deal with NewSpace India Limited , the commercial arm of the Indian Space Research Organisation . OneWeb satellites were deployed by LVM 3 both on 22 October 2022 and 26 March 2023, using
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#17328558424521152-586: A lightly modified version of the satellite dispenser previously used on Soyuz. SpaceX was originally contracted to launch three missions for OneWeb. However, an additional flight was contracted on 11 January 2023 for summer 2023 to add backup satellites in orbit. Three flights have been completed so far, the first flight was back on 8 December 2022, and the second was on 10 January 2023. As of early March 2023, there are 584 OneWeb satellites in orbit (two of which are nonoperational), with SpaceX having successfully launched its third flight for OneWeb on March 9, 2023, with
1248-630: A load of 40 satellites. The merger of OneWeb with France's Eutelsat S.A. – an operator of geostationary satellites – was announced in July 2022. OneWeb shareholders would receive 50% of the enlarged share capital while the British government would retain its golden share or "special share" in OneWeb itself, in a transaction which valued OneWeb at US$ 3.4 billion (£2.8 billion). The French and British governments are expected to have similar direct stakes of roughly 10% in
1344-419: A new market, particularly emerging market ; to gain scale efficiencies by combining assets and operations; to share risk for major investments or projects; or to access skills and capabilities. Most joint ventures are incorporated, although some, as in the oil and gas industry , are "unincorporated" joint ventures that mimic a corporate entity. With individuals, when two or more persons come together to form
1440-494: A part of WorldVu Satellites Ltd. They took with them the rights to a certain radio frequency spectrum that could be used to provide Internet access. At the time, WorldVu was working closely with SpaceX and SpaceX's founder Elon Musk to explore satellite internet services, although no formal relationship had been established and no launch commitments had been made in 2014. By November 2014, The Wall Street Journal reported that Musk and Wyler were considering options for building
1536-485: A principal disadvantage is absence of an interested and influential Chinese party. As of the 3rd Quarter of 2004, WFOEs had replaced EJVs and CJVs as follows: (*)=Financial Vventures by EJVs/CJVs (**)=Approved JVs These enterprises are formed under the Sino-Foreign Investment Act. The capital is composed of value of stock in exchange for the value of the property given to the enterprise. The liability of
1632-591: A report and launched a petition asking for sanctions from the European Union and Eutelsat IGO against the two operators. The petition is signed by all members of the Ukrainian regulatory body, the National Radio and Television Council. Eutelsat continues to collaborate with Russian TV platforms such as NTV-Plus and Tricolor. In France, the association Denis Diderot Committee has started a petition to put pressure on
1728-713: A request for "ministerial direction", therefore it was required that the letter be made public and any concerns raised be formally overruled. BEIS minister Alok Sharma overrode the concerns and proceeded with the bid. On 21 September 2020, OneWeb announced that their contract with Arianespace would allow them to resume satellite launch in December 2020. In November 2020, the company announced that Neil Masterson , formerly chief operating officer at media company Thomson Reuters , had been appointed CEO. The company launched 36 additional satellites on 17 December 2020. Furthermore, OneWeb announced plans to accelerate launches in 2021 so that
1824-488: A satellite's high throughput Ka-band capacity, however, the satellite was destroyed during launch preparations. In December 2020, Eutelsat launched Eutelsat Konnect , a domestic broadband service targeting remote localities, in the United Kingdom with a planned subsequent launch across Europe. In July 2021, Eutelsat launched Eutelsat Quantum, the first full software-defined satellite. It will enable users, notably in
1920-479: A user service when also in the range of a gateway ground station. As of 2023, OneWeb expect the final operational constellation to be fewer than 1,000 satellites, instead of several thousands being considered earlier. A number of next generation satellites of about 500 kg (1,100 lb) mass may be procured in the future. The satellites provide user service in the Ku-band . Links to the gateway ground stations are in
2016-404: Is allowed to enter into contracts with appropriate government authorities to acquire land use rights, rent buildings, and receive utility services. In this it is more similar to a CJV than an EJV. WFOEs are expected by PRC to use the most modern technologies and to export at least 50% of their production, with all of the investment is to be wholly provided by the foreign investor and the enterprise
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#17328558424522112-488: Is clear that then we would have to wave goodbye to some Russian customers, who would then move on to some Russian satellites or something else". Media spokesman Kasper Sand Kjær of the Danish Social Democrats comments this decision with: "I think everyone should decide for themselves which side you want to stand on in the story. I do not believe that one can get through the time we are in right now by saying that one
2208-592: Is described below. The EJV Law is between a Chinese partner and a foreign company. It is incorporated in both Chinese (official) and in English (with equal validity), with limited liability. Prior to China's entry into WTO – and thus the WFOEs – EJVs predominated. In the EJV mode, the partners share profits, losses, and risk in equal proportion to their respective contributions to the venture's registered capital. These escalate upwardly in
2304-465: Is done in parallel with other activities in forming a JV. Though dealt with briefly for a shareholders' agreement , some issues must be dealt with here as a preamble to the discussion that follows. There are also many issues which are not in the Articles when a company starts up or never ever present. Also, a JV may elect to stay as a JV alone in a "quasi partnership" to avoid any nonessential disclosure to
2400-626: Is headquartered in Paris , France . Eutelsat Communications Chief Executive Officer is currently Eva Berneke . In October 2017, Eutelsat acquired Noorsat, one of the leading satellite service providers in the Middle East , from Bahrain 's Orbit Holding Group. Noorsat is the premier distributor of Eutelsat capacity in the Middle East, serving blue-chip customers and providing services for over 300 TV channels almost exclusively from Eutelsat's market-leading
2496-582: Is neutral". Jim Phillipoff, co-founder of the Denis Diderot Committee explained further that Eutelat's declared "neutrality" is rather dubious granted the fact that Eutelsat only offers channels on 36°E to Russian customers but not independent Russian-language broadcasts, which could help break information monopoly of the Russian state. As described above, Russian customers already actively censored western channels in their broadcasts on 36°E, which made
2592-464: Is what will happen if the firm is dissolved, if one of the partners dies, or if the firm is sold. Often, the most successful JVs are those with 50:50 partnership with each party having the same number of directors but rotating control over the firm, or rights to appoint the Chairperson and Vice-chair of the company. Sometimes a party may give a separate trusted person to vote in its place proxy vote of
2688-505: Is within his total control. WFOEs are typically limited liability enterprises. Like with EJVs, but the liability of the directors, managers, advisers, and suppliers depends on the rules which govern the Departments or Ministries which control product liability, worker safety or environmental protection. An advantage the WFOE enjoys over its alternates is enhanced protection of its know-how but
2784-604: The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to change the number of satellites planned for its Phase Two constellation to 6,372. On 27 February 2019, OneWeb launched its first six satellites into 1,200 km low Earth orbit from the Centre Spatial Guyanais in French Guiana using a Soyuz-2 launch vehicle. The same day OneWeb announced that it had signed its first two client agreements marking
2880-611: The Government of the United Kingdom were the company's largest shareholders, while Japan's SoftBank retained an equity holding of 12%. On 28 September 2023, Eutelsat announced the completion of its merger with OneWeb and the creation of a new "Eutelsat Group" company, with subsidiaries "Eutelsat" and "Eutelsat OneWeb". The company was founded in 2012 under the name WorldVu, and was based in Britain's Channel Islands . Early reports of
2976-462: The Government of the United Kingdom won the auction to purchase the bankrupt company. The sale closed in November, allowing the company to exit Chapter 11 bankruptcy. On 3 July 2020, the Government of the United Kingdom and Sunil Mittal 's Bharti Global (formerly a partner of OneWeb) announced a joint plan to invest US$ 500 million each for equal stakes in OneWeb Global, approximately 42% each;
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3072-505: The Ka-band . The satellites are designed to comply with " orbital debris-mitigation guidelines for removing satellites from orbit and, for low-orbit satellites, assuring that they re-enter the Earth's atmosphere within 25 years of retirement". Eutelsat Eutelsat S.A. is a French satellite operator. Providing coverage over the entire European continent, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and
3168-565: The United Nations ' International Telecommunication Union (ITU). This secured the vital rights OneWeb needed to operate its global satellite broadband network. In February and March 2020, the company launched an additional 68 satellites to orbit, stating that launches would be paused to allow a minor design modification to be made before planning to resume in May 2020. On 27 March 2020, OneWeb Global Limited and 18 affiliates filed for bankruptcy in
3264-593: The United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York . The company said the decision was made because of the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. 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. On 3 July 2020, a consortium led by Bharti Global and
3360-476: The World Trade Organization (WTO) around 2001 has had profound effects on foreign investment. Not being a JV, they are considered here only in comparison or contrast. To implement WTO commitments, China publishes from time to time updated versions of its "Catalogs Investments" (affecting ventures) prohibited, restricted. The WFOE is a Chinese legal person and has to obey all Chinese laws. As such, it
3456-450: The "constitution" of a company in these countries. The articles of association regulate the interaction between shareholders and the directors of a company and can be a lengthy document of up to 700,000 or so pages. It deals with the powers relegated by the stockholders to the directors and those withheld by them, requiring the passing of ordinary resolutions , special resolutions and the holding of Extraordinary General Meetings to bring
3552-401: The 36°E Eutelsat satellites, NTV Plus (a subsidiary of Gazprom Media) and Trikolor, unilaterally interrupted broadcasting of 8 international news channels (BBC World, CNN, Deutsche Welle, Euronews, France 24, NHK World, RAInews 24, TV5 Monde). This interruption was denounced by the Denis Diderot Committee, made up of academics and professionals from the European audiovisual sector, which published
3648-422: The 650 satellites necessary for global coverage would be in orbit by 2022. In January 2021, a further funding round raised $ 400 million from SoftBank and Hughes Network Systems, with SoftBank getting a director seat on OneWeb's board. This brought available funding to $ 1.4 billion, which "positions the company" to fund its first-generation fleet of 648 satellites, but would be insufficient to fund full deployment of
3744-572: The Americas, it is the world's third-largest satellite operator in terms of revenues. Eutelsat's satellites are used for broadcasting nearly 7,000 television stations, of which 1,400 are in high-definition television , and 1,100 radio stations to over 274 million cable and satellite homes. They also serve requirements for TV contribution services, corporate networks, mobile communications, Internet backbone connectivity and broadband access for terrestrial, maritime and in-flight applications. Eutelsat
3840-612: The Basic Principles set forth in the Eutelsat Amended Convention entered into force in November 2002. These Basic Principles refer to public service/universal service obligations, pan European coverage by the satellite system, non-discrimination and fair competition. The Executive Secretary of Eutelsat IGO participates in all meetings of the Board of Directors of Eutelsat Communications S.A. and Eutelsat S.A. as an observer to
3936-466: The Board ( censeur ). In April 2005, the principal shareholders of Eutelsat S.A. grouped their investment in a new entity (Eutelsat Communications), which is now the holding company of the Group owning 95.2% of Eutelsat S.A. on 6 October 2005. As of 2009, the holding company owned 96.0% of Eutelsat S.A. On 31 July 2013, Eutelsat Communications announced the 100% acquisition of Satélites Mexicanos, S.A. de C.V. (" Satmex ") for US$ 831 million in cash plus
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4032-456: The DOC data, foreign joint ventures of U.S. companies realized a 5.5 percent average return on assets (ROA), while those companies' wholly owned and controlled affiliates (the vast majority of which are wholly owned) realized a slightly lower 5.2 percent ROA. The same story holds true for investments by foreign companies in the U.S., but the difference is more pronounced. U.S.-based joint ventures realized
4128-505: The EU to get Eutelsat to drop cooperation with the Russian channels. In a press release, the association writes that it is 'paradoxical and unforgivable' that European satellites are used to broadcast Russian channels, which 'only spread the Kremlin's official state propaganda. As top manager of French Eutelsat, Danish Eva Berneke defended the strategy in a podcast interview with Techmediet Radar: "It
4224-626: The Founder at board meetings. Recently, in a major case the Indian Supreme Court has held that Memorandums of Understanding (whose details are not in the articles of association) are "unconstitutional" giving more transparency to undertakings. A JV is not a permanent structure. It can be dissolved when: Joint ventures are risky forms of business partnerships . Literature in business and management has paid attention to different factors of conflict and opportunism in joint ventures, in particular
4320-528: The Government and Mobility markets, to actively define and shape performance and reach thanks to its software-based design. In December 2021, Eva Berneke was appointed Chief Executive Officer to replace Rodolphe Belmer . She will take up her position on 1 January 2022. In March 2022, in the context of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and growing censorship in Russia , two of the Russian packagers active on
4416-459: The JV's life, giving the option to the foreign investor, by holding higher equity, obtains a faster rate of return with the concurrent wish of the Chinese partner of a later larger role of maintaining long-term control. The parties in any of the ventures, EJV, CJV or WFOE prepare a feasibility study outlined above. It is a non-binding document – the parties are still free to choose not to proceed with
4512-544: The Middle East and North Africa neighbourhoods at 7/8° West and 25.5° East. On 26 July 2022, Eutelsat announced a merger with LEO satellite internet operator OneWeb . When the merger was completed in September 2023, the company became a subsidiary of a new entity, "Eutelsat Group". The European Telecommunications Satellite Organization (Eutelsat) was originally set up in 1977 (47 years ago), by 17 European countries as an intergovernmental organisation (IGO). Its role
4608-600: The Middle East, the African continent, and large parts of Asia and the Americas from the 1990s. Eutelsat was the first satellite operator in Europe to broadcast television channels direct-to-home. It developed its premium neighbourhood of five Hot Bird satellites in the mid-1990s to offer capacity that would be able to attract hundreds of channels to the same orbital location, appealing to wider audiences for consumer satellite TV. With
4704-671: The OneWeb constellation are approximately 150 kg (330 lb) in mass, a bit smaller than the 2015 design estimate of 150–200 kg (330–440 lb). The 648 operational satellites are to operate in 12 near polar orbit planes at 1,200 km (750 mi) altitude , at 86.4° orbital inclination . Initially 18 orbital planes with 49 satellites per plane was planned, requiring 882 satellites plus some spares, but improved satellite coverage capability allowed this to be reduced to 12 planes of 49 satellites requiring 588 satellites plus some on-orbit spares. The first-generation satellites do not have inter-satellite data links, so can only provide
4800-433: The OneWeb satellite constellation is planned to have 648 small satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO) that can provide high-speed broadband internet to rural and isolated areas. As of January 2023, they have launched 544 satellites, with 542 being functional. The constellation is planned for completion by the end of March 2023. OneWeb engineers will then take a few months to test the system before commercial service starts in
4896-577: The UK to cancel the launch. Russia said the launch had already been paid for and would not be refunded, and would be cancelled from the Russian side unless OneWeb provided additional assurance that the satellites would never be used for military purposes and the British Government disposed of its shares in the company. The British government refused this demand and the launch was cancelled, along with other Russian launches. OneWeb tried through negotiations to get
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#17328558424524992-528: The US) covering know-how and trademarks and supply-of-equipment agreements. The minimum equity is prescribed for investment truncated, where the foreign equity and debt levels are: There are also intermediary levels. The foreign investment in the total project must be at least 25%. No minimum investment is set for the Chinese partner. The timing of investments must be mentioned in the Agreement and failure to invest in
5088-592: The assumption of US$ 311 million in Satmex debt, pending government and regulatory approvals. The transaction was finalized on 2 January 2014. Based in Mexico, Satmex operates three satellites at contiguous positions, 113° West (Satmex 6), 114.9° West (Satmex 5) and 116.8° West (Satmex 8) that cover 90% of the population of the Americas. In December 2015, the company announced a partnership with Facebook to launch an internet satellite over Africa by 2016 where Facebook lease all of
5184-445: The beginning of its commercialization. On 18 March 2019, OneWeb announced it had secured US$ 1.25 billion in funding following a successful first launch. The funding was from existing investors SoftBank and Qualcomm , as well as Grupo Salinas and the Government of Rwanda . By August 2019, the company had six of its satellites broadcasting at the right frequencies for 90 days, meeting the "use-it-or-lose-it" spectrum conditions set by
5280-450: The broadband service grows over time. By early 2015, OneWeb indicated that the first launches would occur no earlier than 2017. In February 2016, OneWeb announced that they would set up an assembly and test facility in Florida with plans to assemble and launch the majority of the satellites by the end of 2019, while manufacturing an additional 250 of the 140 kg-satellites as spares to be used in later years. In 2019, OneWeb had formed
5376-543: The business of internet provision and internet backhaul services , initially announced as aiming to build an approximately 4000-satellite constellation, with the first generation becoming operational in approximately 2020. The satellites for the OneWeb constellation were initially announced to be in the 110 kg (240 lb) class, about the same size as the two Earth-imaging satellites that were then operated by Skybox Imaging , which Google acquired in August 2014. However, by
5472-461: The cases, the status of the formed enterprise is that of a legal Chinese person which can hire labor directly as, for example, a Chinese national contactor. The minimum of the capital is registered at various levels of investment. Other differences from the EJV are to be noted: Convenience and flexibility are the characteristics of this type of investment. It is therefore easier to find co-operative partners and to reach an agreement. With changes in
5568-515: The claims of Eutelsat's neutrality even more absurd. In June 2021, Eutelsat launched Eutelsat Advance, an end-to-end managed connectivity service, including network interconnection, a management portal and APIs for service providers and their clients. Available via Eutelsat's certified network of partners, Eutelsat Advance enables service providers in Enterprise, Maritime, Aviation, Government and Telecoms to enhance their service portfolio by increasing
5664-791: The co-chair. Eutelsat Group will be headquartered in Paris , France. Bpifrance and the French Fonds Stratégique de Participations as well as Hanwha Group and the British government are all set to appoint one director each to the new company's board. Meanwhile, OneWeb and Eutelsat S.A. will respectively be allowed to appoint three and four additional directors of their choice. In March 2021, OneWeb stated its market would be primarily to businesses, governments including defence, phone network operators and clusters of communities, rather than to individual domestic customers which Starlink primarily targets. Users willing to connect were advised to contact their local telecom operator. Initially,
5760-454: The company. OneWeb became the founding member of Indian Space Association (ISpA). ISpA will act as bridge between Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and private industries to form the space ecosystem in India. In March 2022, media reported that OneWeb was scheduled to launch a batch of 36 satellites from Baikonur cosmodrome days after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. There were calls for
5856-533: The consortium. The same month, the UK government stated an intention to repurpose the OneWeb satellites for its own Global Navigation Satellite System . Shortly after the July public announcement of the OneWeb sale, a letter from Sam Beckett, the leading civil servant in the UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), was released. In the letter, Beckett raised concerns that taxpayers' money could be at risk. The comments were made as part of
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#17328558424525952-414: The constellation by mid-2022. OneWeb chairman, Sunil Mittal, estimated about a further $ 1 billion is required, but did not anticipate difficulty in raising that. In April 2021, OneWeb launched its sixth batch of satellites to orbit. It comprised 36 units, bringing the total in-orbit constellation to 182. In the same month, it was also reported that Eutelsat was putting £400M into the company, in return for
6048-618: The death of Mao Zedong in 1976, initiatives in foreign trade began to be applied, and law applicable to foreign direct investment was made clear in 1979, while the first Sino-foreign equity venture took place in 2001. The corpus of the law has improved since then. Companies with foreign partners can carry out manufacturing and sales operations in China and can sell through their own sales network. Foreign-Sino companies have export rights which are not available to wholly Chinese companies, as China desires to import foreign technology by encouraging JVs and
6144-495: The directors' decision to bear. A Certificate of Incorporation or the Articles of Incorporation is a document required to form a corporation in the U.S. (in actuality, the state where it is incorporated) and in countries following the practice. In the US, the "constitution" is a single document. The Articles of Incorporation is again a regulation of the directors by the stock-holders in
6240-468: The following major ways: In the UK , India , and in many common law countries, a joint-venture (or else a company formed by a group of individuals) must file its memorandum of association with the appropriate authority. This is a statutory document which informs the public of its existence. It may be viewed by the public at the office in which it is filed. Together with the articles of association , it forms
6336-477: The following year, sources put the satellites nearer 150–200 kg (330–440 lb) in mass. In 2015, OneWeb secured US$ 500 million in funding, and agreed to purchase certain future launch services, from existing aerospace industry companies Arianespace and Virgin Galactic . In June 2015, OneWeb also entered into a deal with Airbus Defence and Space for the construction of its broadband Internet satellites after
6432-412: The fourth quarter of 2023. The satellites were built by OneWeb Satellites, a joint venture between Airbus and OneWeb. The satellites are in a circular orbit , at approximately 1,200 km (750 mi) altitude, and transmitting and receiving in the Ku-band radio frequency . OneWeb's first six satellites were launched on a Soyuz rocket on 27 February 2019. The first large batch of 34 satellites
6528-471: The general liberalisation of the telecommunications sector in Europe, Eutelsat's assets, liabilities and operational activities were transferred to a private company called Eutelsat S.A. established for this purpose in July 2001. The structure role and activities of the new intergovernmental organisation Eutelsat IGO evolved. According to Eutelsat IGO's amended constitution in 2016, the main purpose of Eutelsat IGO has been to ensure that Eutelsat S.A. observes
6624-423: The government or the public. Some of the issues in a shareholders' agreement are: There are many features which have to be incorporated into the shareholders' agreement which is quite private to the parties as they start off. Normally, it requires noтуОЧ submission to any authority. The other basic document which must be articulated is the Articles, which is a published document and known to members. This repeats
6720-547: The indicated time, draws a penalty. Co-operative Joint Ventures (CJVs) are permitted under the Sino-Foreign Co-operative Joint Ventures. Co-operative enterprises are also called Contractual Operative Enterprises. The CJVs may have a limited structure or unlimited – therefore, there are two versions. The limited-liability version is similar to the EJVs in status of permissions – the foreign investor provides
6816-583: The influence of parent control structure, ownership change, and volatile environment. Government procurement regulations, such as the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) in the United States, may specify how joint ventures are to be approached as suppliers or confirm that a joint venture or other form of contractor partnering is seen as a "desirable" arrangement for supplying to government. The FAR states that The Government will recognize
6912-405: The integrity and validity of contractor team arrangements [including joint ventures], provided the arrangements are identified and company relationships are fully disclosed in an offer or, for arrangements entered into after submission of an offer, before the arrangement becomes effective. The Government will not normally require or encourage the dissolution of contractor team arrangements. Under
7008-705: The latest technologies. Under Chinese law, foreign enterprises are divided into several basic categories. Of these, five will be described or mentioned here: three relate to industry and services and two as vehicles for foreign investment. Those five categories of Chinese foreign enterprises are: the Sino-Foreign Equity Joint Ventures (EJVs), Sino-Foreign Co-operative Joint Ventures (CJVs), Wholly Foreign-Owned Enterprises (WFOE), although they do not strictly belong to Joint Ventures, plus foreign investment companies limited by shares (FICLBS), and Investment Companies through Foreign Investors (ICFI). Each category
7104-477: The law, it becomes possible to merge with a Chinese company for a quick start. A foreign investor does not need to set up a new corporation in China. Instead, the investor uses the Chinese partner's business license, under a contractual arrangement. However, under the CJV, the land stays in the possession of the Chinese partner. There is another advantage: the percentage of the CJV owned by each partner can change throughout
7200-402: The majority of funds and technology and the Chinese party provides land, buildings, equipment, etc. However, there are no minimum limits on the foreign partner which allows him to be a minority shareholder. The other format of the CJV is similar to a partnership where the parties jointly incur unlimited liability for the debts of the enterprise with no separate legal person being created. In both
7296-636: The names of its satellites. The group's satellites mostly take the Eutelsat name, with the relevant figure for their orbital position and a letter indicating their order of arrival at that position. On 21 May 2014, Eutelsat Americas (formerly Satmex ) aligned its satellite names with the Eutelsat brand. Joint venture A joint venture ( JV ) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership , shared returns and risks , and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to access
7392-425: The new joint entity as well as a seat on the board each. The board of directors' structure, when the deal is finalized in the third quarter of 2023, will have Eutelsat S.A. chairman Dominique D’Hinnin and CEO Eva Berneke retain their positions in the new company Eutelsat Group . The latter will own Eutelsat S.A and OneWeb (rebranded Eutelsat OneWeb ) as subsidiaries. Sunil Bharti Mittal, representing OneWeb will be
7488-504: The planned satellites would weigh approximately 125 kg and that the plans were to deploy approximately 650 of them in low Earth orbit to operate at 1,200 km (750 mi) altitude . Just a few days later, Elon Musk announced the rival Starlink venture, with the opening of the SpaceX satellite development facility in Seattle , Washington , with the intent of taking SpaceX itself into
7584-522: The potential involvement of Google in offering broadband internet services surfaced in February 2014, when a "very large [satellite] constellation " was rumored to be in the plans with as many as 1600 satellites. In May 2014, the early concept had been to have at least 20 satellites operating in each of 20 orbital planes to provide consistent internet coverage over the surface of the Earth . By June 2014, WorldVu (later to be renamed to OneWeb) had acquired
7680-471: The project. The feasibility study must cover the fundamental technical and commercial aspects of the project, before the parties can proceed to formalize the necessary legal documentation. The study should contain details referred to earlier under Feasibility Study (submissions by the Chinese partner). There is basic law of the PRC concerning enterprises with sole foreign investment controls, WFOEs. China's entry into
7776-898: The range of connectivity services they offer. In September 2018, Eutelsat announced Cirrus, which enabled broadcasters to deliver content to satellite and over-the-top media service . Viewers can watch content on screens, phones and tablets, access multiple programmes, record and rewind and view detailed programme information. With a global fleet of satellites and associated ground infrastructure, Eutelsat enables clients across Video, Data, Government, Fixed and Mobile Broadband markets to communicate effectively to their customers, irrespective of their location. Over 6800 television channels operated by leading media groups are broadcast by Eutelsat to one billion viewers equipped for DTH reception or connected to terrestrial networks. Eutelsat sells capacity on 36 satellites located in geosynchronous orbit between 139° West and 174° East. On 1 March 2012, Eutelsat changed
7872-729: The requisite electromagnetic spectrum communication frequencies in mid-2014. The 2014 OneWeb solicitation to satellite manufacturers was for a total build of approximately 900 small Internet-delivery satellites , including ground and on-orbit spares. Responses were received from both European and American manufacturers including Airbus Defence and Space , Lockheed Martin Space Systems , OHB SE , SSL and Thales Alenia Space , and discussions focused on how each of these companies might "escape their status-quo histories as major space hardware contractors and remake themselves into producers capable of producing multiple satellites per month, each with
7968-425: The rest would be held by other creditors including Softbank . The UK government would also hold a golden share to give it control over any future sales. The plan was approved by the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York on 10 July 2020, and the deal closed in November 2020, allowing OneWeb to exit Chapter 11 bankruptcy. In July 2020, Hughes Network Systems invested US$ 50 million in
8064-474: The rules applicable to public procurement in the European Union , public bodies may insist that suppliers intending to provide goods and services through a joint partnership accept joint liability for the execution of the contract. According to a 2003 report of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development , China was the recipient of US$ 53.5 billion in direct foreign investment, making it
8160-440: The same proportion as the increase in registered capital. The JV contract accompanied by the articles of association for the EJV are the two most fundamental legal documents of the project. The Articles mirror many of the provisions of the JV contract. In case of conflict the JV document has precedence. These documents are prepared at the same time as the feasibility report. There are also the ancillary documents (termed "offsets" in
8256-464: The satellite spectrum that was formerly owned by SkyBridge, a company that went bankrupt in 2000, in a much earlier attempt to offer broadband Internet services via satellite. By September 2014, the WorldVu company had 30 employees, and several Google employees who had joined Google as part of the acquisition of O3b Networks in 2013 — Greg Wyler , Brian Holz and David Bettinger — left Google to become
8352-438: The second largest fleet behind Starlink . By comparison Starlink had 1,700 satellites by the end of 2021. In June 2021, Oneweb raised an additional US$ 500M from Bharti Global, increasing Bharti's holding to 38.6%. In August 2021, Hanwha Systems invested $ 300 million to purchase an 8.8% share in OneWeb, enabling Hanwha to appoint one member of the board of directors and bring its own dual-use defense and satellite technology to
8448-435: The shareholders agreement as to the number of directors each founder can appoint to the board of directors; whether the board controls or the founders; the taking of decisions by simple majority (50%+1) of those present or a 51% or 75% majority with all directors present (their alternates/ proxy ); the deployment of funds of the firm; extent of debt; the proportion of profit that can be declared as dividends; etc. Also significant
8544-573: The stack of 36 satellites back, stranded in Kazakhstan due to political reasons. However, these negotiations never progressed. As OneWeb was on the verge of completing its 1st generation satellite network, they gave up hope in March 2023 on further attempts to get their satellites back, potentially scrapping the batch. The satellites were insured for $ 50 million, and OneWeb received the insurance money for them. On 21 March 2022, OneWeb announced that it had signed
8640-438: The time the actual orbital deployment of the constellation began, in February 2019, the planned constellation size had settled once again at 648, near the original projection, with 600 active satellites with 48 on-orbit spares. In January 2020, OneWeb reached a production rate of two satellites per day. In February 2020, the company launched its first large batch of satellites. In January 2021, OneWeb amended its application with
8736-426: The world's largest recipient of direct foreign investment for the first time, to exceed the US. Also, it approved the establishment of nearly 500,000 foreign-investment enterprises. The US had 45,000 projects by 2004 with an in-place investment of over 48 billion. Until recently, no guidelines existed on how foreign investment was to be handled due to the restrictive nature of China toward foreign investors. Following
8832-505: Was founded as "WorldVu" by Greg Wyler in 2012 and later as "OneWeb" launched its first 6 satellites in February 2019. It entered bankruptcy in March 2020 after failing to raise the required capital to complete the build and deployment of the remaining 90% of the network. The company emerged from the bankruptcy proceedings and reorganization in November 2020 with a new ownership group. As of 2021, Indian multinational company Bharti Global , France-based satellite service provider Eutelsat and
8928-590: Was launched on 6 February 2020, and another 34 were put into orbit on 21 March 2020. These were followed by more launches in 2021. The Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 meant that launches on the Soyuz rocket were suspended, and Arianespace had to find other launch providers for OneWeb. Satellite launches resumed in quarter four of 2022 using the SpaceX Falcon 9 and the Indian LVM3 rockets. The satellites in
9024-472: Was originally announced in June 2014 to be just half of the total of approximately 720 satellites. A quarter of the satellites were to make up the initial constellation, and these would operate in the lower of the two proposed orbits, at approximately 850 km (530 mi). The initial constellation would presumably be raised or lowered into its final orbital altitude of either 800 km (500 mi) or 950 km (590 mi) as consumer and business use of
9120-487: Was the first satellite-based direct-to-home TV channel launched in Europe. In 1983, Eutelsat launched its first satellite to be used for telecommunications and TV distribution Initially established to address satellite telecommunications demand in Western Europe , Eutelsat rapidly developed its infrastructure to expand coverage to additional services (i.e. TV) and markets, such as Central and Eastern Europe in 1989, and
9216-623: Was to develop and operate a satellite-based telecommunications infrastructure for Europe . The Convention establishing the European Telecommunications Satellite Organization Eutelsat was opened for signature in July 1982 and entered into force on 1 September 1985. In 1982, Eutelsat decided to start operations of its first TV channel ( Satellite Television ) on the Orbital Test Satellite (OTS) in cooperation with European Space Agency (ESA). This
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