OneWeb signs distribution agreement in Australia. Photo: OneWeb

OneWeb has signed new distribution deals in Australia and India as it ramps up activity in 2022. Field Solutions Holdings (FSG), an Australian rural and regional telecoms carrier, has signed on as a OneWeb distribution partner in Australia to deliver OneWeb’s services to rural, regional, and remote Australia, the company announced Wednesday. 

FSG is involved with Australia’s Commonwealth Mobile Blackspot Project to build and trial Australia’s first neutral host mobile network. This project, which will be trialed in northern New South Wales and Southern Queensland, will use OneWeb’s Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite technology to enable 5G deployment in rural and remote regions.

 “This is an important milestone for rural and regional connectivity as OneWeb’s LEO satellite delivers business-grade satellite capabilities. OneWeb’s technology will help us further extend our reach across underserviced regions of Australia with fiber-like connectivity to the most out of reach places, accelerating our ability to deliver technologies such as 5G and IoT anywhere,” Andrew Roberts, FSG CEO, said in a statement.

Separately, OneWeb and Hughes Network Systems announced a six-year distribution partner agreement to provide LEO connectivity services across India. This follows after the Hughes and Bharti Airtel Limited joint venture began earlier this month. The companies already had an MoU in place to provide service in India and on Thursday announced the formal distribution agreement. 

The joint venture HCIPL will use OneWeb capacity to connect towns, villages, and local and regional municipalities in the areas that are hardest to reach. 

“This announcement marks a turning point for Digital India. Enterprise and government customers, including telecom service providers, banks, factories, schools, defense organizations, domestic airlines, and offshore vessel operators, are eagerly anticipating the arrival of new high performing satcom services. We look forward to bringing them high-speed, low-latency services from HCIPL using OneWeb capacity,” said Partho Banerjee, president and managing director of HCIPL.