Bharti Airtel unit Nettle takes 100% in OneWeb India  

Bharti Airtel, has acquired 100% stake in OneWeb India Communications Pvt Ltd, in an all-cash deal for an undisclosed sum.

“Nettle Infrastructure Investments has acquired 10,000 shares in OneWeb India Communications for a cash consideration, amounting to 100% control,” Bharti Airtel said in a regulatory filing Wednesday evening.

OneWeb is a low earth orbit (LEO) satellite communications operator, co-owned by Bharti Global and the UK government, which is open to entering India either directly or through a commercial partnership, involving either the JV route or a bandwidth capacity leasing pact, even as it gears up to launch fast broadband services in the country by June 2022.

Bharti Airtel’s exchange filing on Wednesday added that “UK-based Network Access Associates Ltd, a OneWeb group company, is in the process of seeking foreign direct investment (FDI) approval for investment in OneWeb India Communications Private Ltd”.

Company insiders, though, said this is likely to happen only once clarity emerges around the FDI norms in the upcoming revised satellite communications policy.

OneWeb recently launched 36 satellites by Arianespace from the Vostochny cosmodrome in Russia, paving the way for launching high-speed satellite broadband services in key global markets from late-2021, and in India by mid-2022. Koliasa