How One Web to fly on competitor SpaceX's rockets ?

Both firms are building constellations in the sky to deliver broadband internet connections.

But while SpaceX can send up its Starlink system using its rockets, OneWeb was left looking for rides when the Ukraine war forced it to abandon the use of Russian Soyuz vehicles.

OneWeb has now contracted SpaceX.

It's hoped the first of a series of launches can take place before the end of the year.

We thank SpaceX for their support, which reflects our shared vision for the boundless potential of space, OneWeb CEO Neil Master son said in a statement.

With these launch plans in place, we're on track to finish building out our full fleet of satellites and deliver robust, fast, secure connectivity around the globe.

The terms of the agreement with SpaceX have not been disclosed.

One Web is part-owned by the British government.

SpaceX has more than 2,000 satellites in its Starlink system in orbit, although it is following a different architecture from One Web that is much lower in the sky. Every week or so, the Hawthorne, California-based company adds to its network by sending up yet another batch of Starlink on one of its reusable Falcon rockets.

Contracting with SpaceX to use the Falcon vehicle was the only near-term option for One Web.

With the withdrawal of Soyuz from the international market because of sanctions, there is now a dearth of rockets in the class that can send up batches of satellites in the way required in OneWeb's business plan.

Although SpaceX and OneWeb are both pursuing the same goal of broadband internet from the sky, they are targeting in the first instance somewhat different sectors.

Whereas SpaceX will sell connection terminals direct to the consumer, OneWeb is focused instead on selling its connections to telcos. These partners would then offer the OneWeb system to customers as part of their package of internet solutions.

OneWeb was launching 34-36 satellites at a time on the Soyuz rocket. The spacecraft was held at the top of the vehicle to be deployed in space by a structure called a dispenser. This hardware will need to be adapted to work on the Falcon.

One Web continues to turn out 1-2 satellites a day at its factory in Florida.

One Web, the London-headquartered tech company trying to develop a global internet service delivered from space, reached a key milestone.

The firm successfully launched another 36 satellites, to take its in-orbit mega-constellation to 254.

Although many more are needed to complete the network, this number is enough to start offering a commercial service to a great swathe of the Northern Hemisphere.

This should start at the year's end.

These things don't happen overnight; there's been a tremendous amount of hard work taking place over the last few months. But this launch is special, One Web CEO Neil Master son said just prior to lift-off.

The latest batch of satellites went up from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in the Far East of Russia.

The Soyuz carrier rocket left the launch pad at precisely 21:48 local time (12:48 GMT; 13:48 BST). Confirmation of the successful release of all the spacecraft, together with the acquisition of their signals, was achieved about five hours later.

It's little more than a year since the British government and the Indian conglomerate Bharti Global bid to buy OneWeb out of bankruptcy, each putting $500m (£400m) into the struggling firm.

Since then other investors have joined the project, convinced of its future viability. Chief among these is the major French satellite telecommunications operator, Eutelsat.

And Bharti's decision this week to pump a further $500m into the venture essentially completes the necessary financing ($2.4bn) to roll out the remainder of the mega-constellation - an orbiting fleet of some 650 spacecraft. This will require a further 10 launches beyond Thursday's mission, but should be done by the middle of 2022.

Of great significance to the UK market was the announcement on Sunday of a memorandum of understanding signed between OneWeb and British telecoms provider, BT. The pair are to explore how they can work together, both in Britain and across the globe.