Sunil Mittal expresses interest in satellite firm OneWeb: Report

Industrialist Sunil Mittal has made an offer for London-based satellite firm OneWeb, according to a report by Bloomberg.

A unit of Bharti Enterprises has submitted a bid for bankrupt OneWeb with the backing of the UK government, the report says.

Moneycontrol could not independently verify the story.

A representative for Bharti could not immediately comment when contacted by Bloomberg, and a spokesperson for OneWeb declined to comment.

Bharti Enterprises is the holding company for telecom player Bharti Airtel.

Other investors have also expressed interest in OneWeb, and there is no certainty that Bharti Enterprises' deal will go through, the report said.

OneWeb's shareholders include Japanese conglomerate SoftBank, aircraft manufacturer Airbus and chipmaker Qualcomm.

The UK government plans to inject around $500 million into OneWeb along with other investors. The final date to submit bids is July 3.

OneWeb, which filed for bankruptcy on March 27, is working on a national satellite navigation system. The company competes with SpaceX's Starlink project and Amazon-linked Project Kuiper.

OneWeb said the COVID-19 crisis had made it extremely difficult to secure funding.

A representative for the UK’s Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy also declined to comment when contacted by Bloomberg.