Airbus Defence and Space has announced that it has been selected by OneWeb Ltd. as its industrial partner for the design and manufacturing of its fleet of microsatellites. This initial production of 900 communications satellites, each weighing less than 150 kg, is planned for launch into low Earth orbit beginning in late 2017/early 2018. The constellation is designed to deliver affordable Internet access globally via a Ku-band payload at high data rates and with low signal delay (latency).