India's Bharti Global invests $500 million in  UK-based space start-up OneWeb

CNI Desk: UK-based space start-up OneWeb has received a cash injection of $500m (£361m) from Indian firm Bharti Global.

The deal means Bharti will now take a 39% stake, making it the biggest shareholder in the satellite provider.

The UK government is also a major shareholder after it and Bharti put in $1bn to buy OneWeb out of bankruptcy last year. The new investment will help OneWeb launch more commercial satellites into space later this year.

OneWeb is building a network of low Earth orbit satellites to deliver broadband connections around the world. The deal is expected to complete in the second half of this year.

In total, the company has secured $2.4bn of funding to deliver on its ambitions. Paris-based Eutelsat took a stake in OneWeb with a $550m investment in April. Japanese technology giant SoftBank is also a major investor. Under the deal, the UK government, Eutelsat and SoftBank will each own 19.3% of the firm.