OneWeb signs distribution agreement in Australia. Photo: OneWeb

OneWeb is partnering with major Australian telco Telstra as the two companies get ready to deliver one of the world’s largest rollouts of OneWeb Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) backhaul for a commercial mobile network.

After testing in Australia, Telstra and OneWeb have agreed commercial terms and will begin moving hundreds of existing remote mobile base stations currently using satellite backhaul to OneWeb’s LEO solution from later this year. Meanwhile, Telstra will adopt OneWeb LEO services for future sites where satellite backhaul is the preferred or only viable option.

OneWeb has more than 630 satellites in orbit today, with global coverage on track for the end of the year. OneWeb’s services are anticipated to begin in Australia mid-year, with worldwide service available in early 2024. The partnership complements Telstra’s T25 ambition to grow and extend its network leadership position and extend mobile coverage across the country.           

“It allows us to extend our options for our consumer, small business and enterprise customers in hard-to-reach places across rural and regional Australia — especially those that require added redundancy in the instance of a power or transmission incident. Our initial focus is using the service as a backhaul medium to connect remote mobile base stations. In time, it also offers us capability to deliver voice and fixed broadband services to regional Australia,” Nikos Katinakis, Telstra group executive for Global Networks and Technology, said in a statement.