SoftBank signed a five-year deal with Sceye to operate a fleet of high-altitude platform station (HAPS) aircraft delivering direct-to-device network coverage across Japan.

The agreement will see Sceye provide its lighter-than-air (LTA)-type HAPS vehicles, similar to blimps or zeppelins. The initial fleet will provide mobile broadband throughout Japan, with a subset establishing a free space optical (FSO) network in the stratosphere.

The deployments were claimed to expand reliable connectivity, support emergency communications during disasters, and support use cases spanning AI, IoT, edge computing, and future 6G networks.

SoftBank is taking to the skies after a successful 30-day Service Test 1 (ST1) mission that saw a Sceye aircraft launch from Sceye’s Roswell, New Mexico, hangar and travel across the Pacific to Japan under satellite-based control. Upon landing, the craft established a link with a ground gateway on Shikoku Island, located on Japan’s Pacific coast.

During a week of operations over Japan, the two firms delivered services from an altitude of approximately 12.4 miles, including video streaming, emergency communications, indoor connectivity, HAPS-based remote drone control, and edge compute performed directly aboard the craft. The mission also claimed to have enabled the world’s first demonstration of stratospheric laser ranging, tracking a HAPS traveling through the atmosphere between the ground and the stratosphere.

SoftBank invested an undisclosed amount in Sceye last year. The pair's latest master service agreement represents the next phase of their strategic partnership, which expands SoftBank’s wider Ubiquitous Transformation strategy, a venture aiming to complement terrestrial mobile networks with non-terrestrial infrastructure during disasters.

“This agreement represents the commercialization of HAPS and the realization of our vision for Ubiquitous Transformation,” Masayuki Kamimura, senior director of SoftBank's Ubiquitous Network Planning Division, noted. “Building on the successful flight demonstration in Japan, we are excited to take the next step with Sceye toward bringing stratospheric connectivity into commercial use. By combining Sceye’s advanced HAPS technology with SoftBank’s telecommunications expertise, we aim to create a resilient, three-dimensional communications network that seamlessly connects the ground, sky, and space, expanding connectivity, strengthening disaster preparedness, and enabling new possibilities in the 6G era.”