Cunts use our money in pursuit of ludicrous goals a 10 year could tell them was never going to work….
Relied on Russian rockets ffs
British taxpayers lose millions on rival to Musk’s Starlink
British taxpayers have lost more than £340m after an investment in a rival to Elon Musk’s Starlink turned sour.
The UK’s £517m investment in Eutelsat OneWeb, the satellite business, slumped by two thirds, government accounts reveal.
Originally championed as a taxpayer investment by Dominic Cummings, OneWeb is struggling against rivals such as Starlink, owned by Mr Musk’s SpaceX.
Ministers last year put a further £143m into the company, but its value has since fallen further.
Boris Johnson’s government agreed to invest £374m in OneWeb in 2020, to rescue the UK-headquartered satellite provider from bankruptcy.
However, it took longer to launch its commercial services than Starlink, and in 2022 was merged with the French satellite company Eutelsat, which is state-backed.
Accounts for the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology to the end of March put the value of Britain’s stake in Eutelsat at £175m against a total investment of £517m.
Paris-listed Eutelsat’s shares have fallen by 38pc in the past year as its traditional satellite business has declined, and it has posted heavy losses.
While the company’s OneWeb business, which consists of hundreds of internet satellites in low Earth orbit, is growing, it pales in comparison to Starlink and faces growing competition from the likes of Amazon’s Kuiper system.
OneWeb relied on Russian rockets to launch its satellites until the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Then, the Kremlin seized a batch of satellites, leaving OneWeb facing delays, and forcing it to turn to SpaceX, Starlink’s owner, for launch capacity.
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