The partnership combines the satellite technology of OneWeb with NOW Corp’s, a publicly listed firm in the Philippine Stock Exchange with investments in telecom, media, and technology, existing broadband services, and local enterprise presence.
“This is an exciting partnership that is set to bring transformational connectivity to people, businesses and government bodies throughout the Philippines. We are thrilled to count NOW as a partner and ally in our push to bring true global connectivity," said Neil Masterson, CEO of OneWeb.
"NOW has done tremendous work toward getting the people of the Philippines online, and we’re honored to have the opportunity to enhance and build upon this work with an LEO connectivity solution that is fast, secure and reliable across vast distances, seas and rugged terrain.”
OneWeb’s low earth orbit (LEO) satellites will provide connectivity, enabling NOW to offer a range of enhanced broadband services to sectors including government, aviation, maritime, military, energy, healthcare and banking.
In addition, NOW will work closely with OneWeb to deliver stable, high-speed, low latency broadband connectivity with committed information rates (CIR).
“The integration of multi-orbit satellites provide a surprisingly compelling customer experience in both fixed and mobile applications," added Mel Velarde, chairman of NOW Corporation.
"Our alliance with OneWeb and with the support of the United States government to the NOW Group will provide a clean, secure, and SLA-based connectivity to critical infrastructures such as banks, hospitals, schools, mining sites, power plants, government, and all other entities under the country’s digital economy. NOW Telecom is perhaps the only franchised Philippine telecom company that includes mandate to operate in the outer space, making us able to cover the whole archipelago.”
Under the terms of the MoU, OneWeb will give enterprise, government as well as other customers in the Philippines connectivity solutions in a swiftly growing number of markets. With OneWeb's constellation of LEO satellites now fully built out, NOW will be able to extend services into hard-to-reach areas and enhance the speed, latency and resiliency of its existing offerings.
