London, 26 April 2021 – OneWeb, the global communications network powered from space, has announced today that it is opening a state-of-the-art Service Demonstration Experience at the new Innovation Centre at Westcott Venture Park, which is run and managed by the Satellite Applications Catapult and was funded by Buckinghamshire LEP through the Local Growth Fund. Situated in Buckinghamshire to the North West of London, OneWeb’s unique facility will welcome visitors from 1st May to demonstrate the performance and potential applications of their satellite network in real-time.

The Demo Experience will showcase equipment and high-speed connectivity, and visitors will be about to see the OneWeb network in action including download and upload speeds and latency. Sales support staff will also be on hand to discuss the technology, potential partnerships, testing requirements and further collaboration opportunities.

Focused on attracting partnerships with commercial communication or internet solution providers, the Service Demo Experience will play a vital role in launching OneWeb’s unique service for UK businesses, and developing a long-term commercial proposition for the technology, in collaboration with the UK’s innovative satellite communications sector.

OneWeb chose Westcott as part of its collaboration with the Satellite Applications Catapult to demonstrate high speed data transfer through space to their 5G network. Aligned to OneWeb’s mission to deliver broadband connectivity and bridge the Digital Divide, this strategic business partnership is the next step in OneWeb’s journey to enable a cross-fertilisation of technologies to enable other businesses to collaborate and benefit from advances in the UK space sector.

Opening the Service Demonstration Experience is yet another milestone for OneWeb as it continues to demonstrate its progress in commercialisation of the network. In recent weeks the company has also announced further onboarding of customers globally, and in March 2021, OneWeb conducted its first network demonstrations to the U.S. Government and will be rolling out additional demonstration kits and demo centres across the country.

Michele Franci, Chief of Delivery at OneWeb, commented:

“The launch of the Service Demo Experience at the Westcott Innovation Centre is a significant moment for OneWeb, as we expand our UK presence and lead the way as a global gateway for space innovation. As we continue to develop and deliver a unique LEO network product for the world, the Demo Experience will create engagement and partnerships using satellite technology, for the benefit of future generations. The opening of this facility therefore brings OneWeb closer in delivering on its mission to provide connectivity for people, businesses and governments, while potentially unlocking new research, development and manufacturing opportunities in the UK.”

Stuart Martin, Chief Executive Officer at the Satellite Applications Catapult commented:

“We are delighted to be working with OneWeb to host their new Demo Experience in the Westcott Innovation Centre. This unique facility will showcase the possibilities of their low-Earth orbit constellation and the opportunities now made available in using this technology. This collaboration has the potential to create future business growth in a diverse array of sectors and represents an important milestone for the UK Space industry. By working with OneWeb, the Satellite Applications Catapult also continues to fulfil and maintain its own mandate to drive economic growth through the commercialisation of space technology. We are extremely excited by this development and look forward to some great outcomes for UK business in general, which will also lead to the development of other technology skills in the years to come.”

****************ENDS***************

Notes following for Editors.

About OneWeb

OneWeb will enable connectivity for governments, businesses, and communities. It is implementing a constellation of Low Earth Orbit satellites with a network of global gateway stations and a range of user terminals to provide an affordable, fast, high-bandwidth and low-latency communications service, connected to the IoT future and a pathway to 5G for everyone, everywhere. www.oneweb.net

About The Satellite Applications Catapult

The Satellite Applications Catapult is an independent innovation and technology company, created by Innovate UK to drive economic growth through the exploitation of space. We work with businesses of all sizes to realise their potential from space infrastructure and its applications. Based in Harwell, Oxfordshire, The Catapult was established in May 2013 as one of a network of centres to accelerate the take-up of emerging technologies and drive economic impact for the UK. We are a not-for-profit research organisation which is registered as a private company limited by guarantee and controlled by its Board. See sa.catapult.org.uk for more information.