Eutelsat’s OneWeb mega-constellation of satellites suffered a near-48 hour outage over the New Year period starting on December 31st. The reason given was that OneWeb core software between the satellites and their user terminals did not account for the fact that 2024 was a leap year with 366 days.

Eutelsat’s official statement can be read here.

EchoStar’s Hughes Network Systems is the supplier of the software for OneWeb’s terminals and key operational hubs at more than 20 teleports and Earth stations around the globe.

One critic described the dilemma as a “silly problem” that should have been anticipated.

The issue also annoyed some of OneWeb’s clients. One (quoted by Light Reading) said that data traffic was not being handled correctly as late as January 2nd. “We are still seeing subsequent issues,” said the report. Another said it wasn’t just the glitch itself but that it took almost 48 hours to remedy.

“With the service fully restored a full investigation will take place indeed to ensure it does not recur,” said a Eutelsat spokesperson.

Other posts by :

1. SES announces €0.25c dividend
2. Russia “blinding and destroying” German satellites
3. Bank: AST, Starlink, Kuiper targeting $200bn market
4. Rivada: Is no news good news?
5. SES celebrates Intelsat acquisition
6. Pakistan halts broadband direct-from satellite
7. India stymies Starlink launch
8. Starlink, AST SpaceMobile race for cellular consumers
9. Trouble ahoy for foreign D2D satellites over India?

Categories: Blogs, Broadband, Inside Satellite, Satellite

Tags: eutelsat, OneWeb