Britain and India's Bharti win auction for OneWeb satellite company

Britain has joined forces with India's Bharti Global to buy the collapsed satellite operator OneWeb, with the two sides pledging $1 billion between them to develop a fleet of low earth orbit satellites to boost broadband and other services. Under the deal announced on Friday, Britain will invest $500 million and take a significant equity share in OneWeb while Bharti will invest the same amount and provide commercial and operational leadership.

The deal is subject to a U.S. court approval and regulatory clearances, and is expected to close before the end of the year, the government said in a statement.