Kazakh PM, OneWeb CEO discuss telecom cooperation, assembly of British satellites in Kazakhstan
NUR-SULTAN. Feb 5 (Interfax) - Kazakh Prime Minister Askar Mamin has met with OneWeb CEO Adrian Steckel to discuss the possible provision of broadband internet service to Kazakhstan via OneWeb telecom satellites, the Kazakh presidential press service said in a statement on Wednesday.
"The parties have discussed the prospects for full broadband internet coverage on the territory of Kazakhstan, including in remote areas difficult to access, via the telecom satellites," the statement said.
The parties also discussed possibly assembling OneWeb satellites at a facility of the National Space Center in Nur-Sultan.
The establishment of a joint venture which will deploy a gateway station in Kazakhstan for the future exclusive provision of OneWeb internet service to Central Asia, the Caucasus, Iran, and Afghanistan was also highlighted, the statement said.
According to Steckel, 34 satellites of the OneWeb global satellite group are ready to be launched from Baikonur on February 7.
Eight launches of OneWeb satellites will be performed at Baikonur in 2020. The global cluster will consist of 504 satellites deployed on 12 orbital planes at an altitude of 1,200 kilometers. The satellite network is due to be fully commissioned in Kazakhstan by the end of 2021.
OneWeb is building a global, low-orbit satellite network to provide broadband internet service and data transfer of 5-50 Mb/s to a user terminal.