Philippines-based operator Now Telecom’s parent company teamed with OneWeb to deliver satellite-based mobile broadband services to the enterprise sector at a time when demand for space communications in the country is heating up.

Now Corp stated OneWeb’s constellation of low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites enable it to extend services into hard-to-reach areas, and enhance the speed, latency and resiliency of its existing offerings.

The operator added it plans to offer a range of broadband services to sectors including government, aviation, maritime, military, energy, healthcare and banking.

An MoU between Now Corp with OneWeb Network Access Associates aims to combine OneWeb’s LEO satellite technology with its existing broadband service and strong local presence, the operator stated.

Satellite company Starlink is working with the Philippines government to launch a nationwide broadband service by mid-2023, while Smart Communications has deals with US-based Omnispace and AST SpaceMobile to explore delivering connectivity from space.

Last week, Now Telecom agreed to work with Cisco International to deploy a standalone 5G network.

In January, the operator named Nokia’s R&D arm Bell Labs Consulting to assist in developing its digital infrastructure as it moved to accelerate its 5G rollout.