Corp. Chief Executive Officer Masayoshi Son speaks during a joint announcement with Toyota Motor Corp. to make new venture to develop mobility services in Tokyo, Japan, 04 October 2018.

SoftBank has decided to let satellite internet provider OneWeb file for bankruptcy Friday rather than pump billions of dollars into the start-up to save it, according to people familiar with the matter.

SoftBank, which has already invested $2 billion into OneWeb, was in talks to provide more capital to the satellite operator but ultimately backed down after making the decision it needs to save capital instead of spending more, said the people, who asked not to be named because the discussions were private. OneWeb plans to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Friday when markets close in New York at 4 p.m. ET, one of the people said.

Spokespeople for SoftBank and OneWeb declined to comment.

OneWeb was in the early stages of launching its own global satellite internet constellation, which would have competed directly with the network SpaceX is building called Starlink. While SoftBank is its largest investor, OneWeb had raised about $3.4 billion in funding with investors including Qualcomm, Airbus, Virgin Group, Coca-Cola, Maxar Technologies, Hughes Communications and Intelsat. All 74 of the satellites OneWeb put in orbit so far are operating as expected.

CEO Adrian Steckel told CNBC in a February interview that the company "is always raising" money.

"We're constantly raising capital," Steckel said, just after the company's second launch. "We're not being public about what we're raising. When the time comes we'll make an announcement."

The Financial Times first reported that OneWeb would file for bankruptcy.

SpaceX President and COO Gwynne Shotwell knocked OneWeb in candid comments last October, made to a crowd of investors at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City. She claimed Starlink was well ahead in the new internet space race, saying "we have far more capacity per satellite than our competitors."

"Our competitors are largely these new entrants to the market. OneWeb? We are 17 times better per bit," Shotwell said.

The SpaceX leader didn't stop at a comparison, giving the opera house full of investors an ominous warning about backing OneWeb. "If you're thinking about investing in OneWeb, I would recommend strongly against it. They fooled some people who are going to be pretty disappointed in the near term," Shotwell said.

SpaceX has likewise been steadily raising funds, including $500 million in a round this year. SpaceX founder Elon Musk said in an interview earlier in March that there are "zero" similar satellite efforts "that didn't go bankrupt," referring to companies that fell short of building networks in the early 2000s.

"We just want to be in the 'not bankrupt' category, that's our goal," Musk added.