Data Centre Dynamics reported SoftBank’s subsidiary, HAPSMobile, is developing a solar-powered fixed-wing HAPS platform. It has done five successful flights of 78m wingspan drone and aims to begin commercial operations—mostly in the form of wholesale services to operators—around 2023.
The joint venture, called HAPSMobile Australia, was established on 29 April 2022 in Sydney. It studied the business potential of HAPS in the Australian market.
SoftBank says the deployment of conventional terrestrial base stations in remote and rural areas in Australia has been challenging and cost prohibitive due to Australia’s sparsely populated or unpopulated areas.
SoftBank claims that HAPS in the stratosphere can facilitate high-speed LTE and 5G connectivity to locations that have partial or no coverage. HAPS can act as a means of serving unconnected areas, it says.
Lendlease Asia has been providing telecommunications and data infrastructure services to SoftBank, HAPSMobile’s parent company, in Japan for more than 20 years.
Lendlease will act as facilitator since it has knowledge and understanding of the Australian market.
This first appeared in the subscription newsletter CommsWire on 11 May 2022.
