{"id":17718,"date":"2020-05-06T22:28:37","date_gmt":"2020-05-06T14:28:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/amazon-reportedly-registers-interest-in-bankrupt-onewebs-broadband-satellite-constellation-assets\/"},"modified":"2020-05-06T22:28:37","modified_gmt":"2020-05-06T14:28:37","slug":"amazon-reportedly-registers-interest-in-bankrupt-onewebs-broadband-satellite-constellation-assets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/amazon-reportedly-registers-interest-in-bankrupt-onewebs-broadband-satellite-constellation-assets\/","title":{"rendered":"Amazon reportedly registers interest in bankrupt OneWeb\u2019s broadband satellite constellation assets"},"content":{"rendered":"
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An artist\u2019s conception shows one of OneWeb\u2019s satellites in orbit. (OneWeb Satellites Illustration)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Amazon is among the players in a bankruptcy bidding game with the assets of the OneWeb satellite venture at stake, according to Space Intel Report.<\/p>\n

Quoting unnamed industry officials, Space Intel Report\u2019s Peter B. de Selding says other potential bidders include two Chinese organizations that are apparently acting on behalf of the Chinese government; the Paris-based satellite operator Eutelsat, which apparently has the backing of the French government and several other European Union member states; and Cerberus Capital Management, a New York-based private equity firm with interesting connections.<\/p>\n

Space Intel Report also quotes the officials as saying that SpaceX was among those expressing interest, but SpaceX CEO Elon Musk denied that was the case. \u201cNot SpaceX,\u201d Musk wrote in a tweet.<\/p>\n

SpaceX has already launched 420 satellites for its Starlink broadband constellation and says it\u2019s planning to begin limited commercial service later this year \u2014 a state of affairs that makes Starlink the front runner in the satellite internet race.<\/p>\n

OneWeb has had 74 satellites launched into orbit in preparation for offering high-speed internet service from above, starting in the Arctic and eventually going global. But in March, the company filed for bankruptcy when a major backer, Japan\u2019s SoftBank Group, declined to kick in additional funding amid the financial chaos created by the coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n

The bankruptcy process includes a timetable for auctioning off OneWeb\u2019s assets to compensate its creditors \u2014 led by Europe\u2019s Arianespace consortium, which has an unsecured claim of $238 million. Monday was the deadline for potential buyers to put in non-binding bid proposals, which would give them a chance to look at OneWeb\u2019s books.<\/p>\n

Amazon is notable because it has its own plans for a satellite broadband service. Amazon envisions 3,236 satellites in low Earth orbit for what\u2019s known as Project Kuiper, but it doesn\u2019t yet have the required regulatory clearances and hasn\u2019t yet announced a timetable for satellite deployment or service.<\/p>\n

Amazon could conceivably make use of OneWeb\u2019s existing spectrum access for Project Kuiper\u2019s purposes. It\u2019s also conceivable that Amazon isn\u2019t interested in submitting a binding bid, but just wants to get a better sense of how the constellation competition is shaping up. We asked Amazon\u2019s PR team about de Selding\u2019s report, and were told that \u201cwe don\u2019t comment on speculation.\u201d<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=YIrIt0R47Z8<\/p>\n

European and Chinese bidders would arguably have a geopolitical as well as a commercial interest in building upon OneWeb\u2019s constellation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf OneWeb can persuade one or more governments that they must seize the OneWeb opportunity or \u2018leave low Earth orbit to the Americans,\u2019 or to the Chinese, or the French, whoever \u2014 then the auction could be a lively affair,\u201d de Selding writes.<\/p>\n

Assuming de Selding\u2019s sources are correct, Cerberus Capital would be the wild card in this constellation poker game: GeekWire reported last year that Cerberus acquired Stratolaunch, the Seattle-based aerospace venture that was created by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. Stratolaunch\u2019s new owners say they\u2019re continuing to develop hypersonic vehicles that could be used for national security purposes.<\/p>\n

The co-founder and CEO of Cerberus is Steve Feinberg, a secretive billionaire with ties to President Donald Trump. Cerberus focuses on investing in distressed companies, and the prospect of having OneWeb\u2019s assets fall into Chinese hands could conceivably serve as an added incentive for Cerberus to make a bid.<\/p>\n

It won\u2019t be too long before all the players have to put their cards on the table: De Selding reports that final, binding bids (and good-faith deposits) are due on June 26, with the auction scheduled for July 2 at the New York offices of Milbank LLP, OneWeb\u2019s legal counsel.<\/p>\n

Update for 9:30 a.m. PT May 7:<\/strong> We\u2019ve updated this report with Elon Musk\u2019s denial of the claim that SpaceX is interested in OneWeb\u2019s assets, as well as the fact that Amazon declined to comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An artist\u2019s conception shows one of OneWeb\u2019s satellites in orbit. (OneWeb Satellites Illustration) Amazon is among the players in a bankruptcy bidding game with the assets of the OneWeb satellite venture at stake, according to Space Intel Report. Quoting unnamed industry officials, Space Intel Report\u2019s Peter B. de Selding says other potential bidders include two […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[275,252,1277,20,442],"class_list":["post-17718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-amazon","tag-broadband","tag-oneweb","tag-satellite","tag-satellites"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17718"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17718\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}