I've met some of the senior executives at OneWeb, and think highly of them.
My understanding is that from day one they were under pressure from Softbank and other backers to spend the initial capital aggressively -- to secure spectrum as quickly as possible, build out ground stations as quickly as possible, build out global operations as quickly as possible, and start launching satellites as quickly as possible -- with the implicit assumption that there would be additional capital available to get the company to launch.
The team, to its credit, accomplished pretty much everything they set out to do on an accelerated schedule, but then, when they needed additional capital to finish the build-out and launch... the additional capital they had been counting on failed to materialize on reasonable terms.
Many people working at OneWeb surely feel shortchanged.
> My understanding is that from day one they were under pressure from Softbank and other backers to spend the initial capital aggressively
Totally agree. This isn’t a Covid-19 story. It’s another SoftBank story.
The SoftBank-fuelled impatience led to strategic blunders including premature spectrum accumulation, vendor lock-in with Airbus, launch services lock-in with legacy providers and over hiring.
My understanding is that from day one they were under pressure from Softbank and other backers to spend the initial capital aggressively -- to secure spectrum as quickly as possible, build out ground stations as quickly as possible, build out global operations as quickly as possible, and start launching satellites as quickly as possible -- with the implicit assumption that there would be additional capital available to get the company to launch.
The team, to its credit, accomplished pretty much everything they set out to do on an accelerated schedule, but then, when they needed additional capital to finish the build-out and launch... the additional capital they had been counting on failed to materialize on reasonable terms.
Many people working at OneWeb surely feel shortchanged.