{"id":45146,"date":"2025-10-21T16:38:29","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T15:38:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/solutions-and-impact\/technologies\/networks\/?p=45146"},"modified":"2025-10-21T16:38:43","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T15:38:43","slug":"japanese-consortium-led-by-softbank-plans-leo-haps-optical-communication-demonstration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/solutions-and-impact\/technologies\/networks\/networks\/japanese-consortium-led-by-softbank-plans-leo-haps-optical-communication-demonstration\/","title":{"rendered":"Japanese Consortium Led by SoftBank Plans LEO\u2013HAPS Optical Communication Demonstration"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>A Japanese consortium that includes SoftBank, ArkEdge Space, Kiyohara Optics, and the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) is preparing a series of demonstrations to advance optical communications between space and the stratosphere. The first phase, scheduled for 2026, will involve launching a 6U-class low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite developed by ArkEdge Space to test optical wireless communications between space and ground stations. Kiyohara Optics is developing an ultra-small, lightweight optical terminal capable of achieving 10 Gbps bidirectional transmission, while SoftBank and NICT are contributing to the development of optical communication devices and ground infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2027, the consortium plans a world-first demonstration of bi-directional optical wireless communication between a LEO satellite and a high-altitude platform station (HAPS). This milestone aims to validate the potential of combining satellite and HAPS networks to enhance connectivity, enabling high-speed data relay for Earth observation, extending broadband coverage to underserved areas, and restoring communications in disaster-stricken regions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Read more: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.satellitetoday.com\/technology\/2025\/10\/16\/softbank-and-japanese-partners-plan-leo-haps-optical-communications-demonstration\/\">https:\/\/www.satellitetoday.com\/technology\/2025\/10\/16\/softbank-and-japanese-partners-plan-leo-haps-optical-communications-demonstration\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Japanese consortium that includes SoftBank, ArkEdge Space, Kiyohara Optics, and the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) is preparing a series of demonstrations to advance optical communications between space and the stratosphere. The first phase, scheduled for 2026, will involve launching a 6U-class low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite developed by ArkEdge Space [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":93,"featured_media":45147,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[60,15365,15325],"tags":[],"algolia_discover_type":[15357],"class_list":["post-45146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news","category-latest-ntn-news","category-networks","algolia_discover_type-article"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.7.1 (Yoast SEO v26.8) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Japanese Consortium Led by SoftBank Plans LEO\u2013HAPS Optical Communication Demonstration - Networks<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/solutions-and-impact\/technologies\/networks\/networks\/japanese-consortium-led-by-softbank-plans-leo-haps-optical-communication-demonstration\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Japanese Consortium Led by SoftBank Plans LEO\u2013HAPS Optical Communication Demonstration\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A Japanese consortium that includes SoftBank, ArkEdge Space, Kiyohara Optics, and the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) is preparing a series of demonstrations to advance optical communications between space and the stratosphere. The first phase, scheduled for 2026, will involve launching a 6U-class low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite developed by ArkEdge Space [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/solutions-and-impact\/technologies\/networks\/networks\/japanese-consortium-led-by-softbank-plans-leo-haps-optical-communication-demonstration\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Networks\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gsma\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-10-21T15:38:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-10-21T15:38:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/solutions-and-impact\/technologies\/networks\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Demonstration-model-of-LEO-Satellite.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"616\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"450\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"smontengo@gsma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@GSMA\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@GSMA\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"smontengo@gsma.com\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Japanese Consortium Led by SoftBank Plans LEO\u2013HAPS Optical Communication Demonstration - Networks","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/solutions-and-impact\/technologies\/networks\/networks\/japanese-consortium-led-by-softbank-plans-leo-haps-optical-communication-demonstration\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Japanese Consortium Led by SoftBank Plans LEO\u2013HAPS Optical Communication Demonstration","og_description":"A Japanese consortium that includes SoftBank, ArkEdge Space, Kiyohara Optics, and the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) is preparing a series of demonstrations to advance optical communications between space and the stratosphere. The first phase, scheduled for 2026, will involve launching a 6U-class low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite developed by ArkEdge Space [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/solutions-and-impact\/technologies\/networks\/networks\/japanese-consortium-led-by-softbank-plans-leo-haps-optical-communication-demonstration\/","og_site_name":"Networks","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gsma\/","article_published_time":"2025-10-21T15:38:29+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-10-21T15:38:43+00:00","og_image":[{"width":616,"height":450,"url":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/solutions-and-impact\/technologies\/networks\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Demonstration-model-of-LEO-Satellite.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"smontengo@gsma.com","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@GSMA","twitter_site":"@GSMA","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"smontengo@gsma.com","Estimated reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/solutions-and-impact\/technologies\/networks\/networks\/japanese-consortium-led-by-softbank-plans-leo-haps-optical-communication-demonstration\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/solutions-and-impact\/technologies\/networks\/networks\/japanese-consortium-led-by-softbank-plans-leo-haps-optical-communication-demonstration\/"},"author":{"name":"smontengo@gsma.com","@id":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/solutions-and-impact\/technologies\/networks\/#\/schema\/person\/c990cef38568fa33f18cd7fb70f64025"},"headline":"Japanese Consortium Led by SoftBank Plans LEO\u2013HAPS Optical Communication Demonstration","datePublished":"2025-10-21T15:38:29+00:00","dateModified":"2025-10-21T15:38:43+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/solutions-and-impact\/technologies\/networks\/networks\/japanese-consortium-led-by-softbank-plans-leo-haps-optical-communication-demonstration\/"},"wordCount":171,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/solutions-and-impact\/technologies\/networks\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/solutions-and-impact\/technologies\/networks\/networks\/japanese-consortium-led-by-softbank-plans-leo-haps-optical-communication-demonstration\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/solutions-and-impact\/technologies\/networks\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Demonstration-model-of-LEO-Satellite.jpg","articleSection":["Latest News","Latest-NTN-news","Networks"],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/solutions-and-impact\/technologies\/networks\/networks\/japanese-consortium-led-by-softbank-plans-leo-haps-optical-communication-demonstration\/","url":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/solutions-and-impact\/technologies\/networks\/networks\/japanese-consortium-led-by-softbank-plans-leo-haps-optical-communication-demonstration\/","name":"Japanese Consortium Led by SoftBank Plans LEO\u2013HAPS Optical Communication Demonstration - Networks","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/solutions-and-impact\/technologies\/networks\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/solutions-and-impact\/technologies\/networks\/networks\/japanese-consortium-led-by-softbank-plans-leo-haps-optical-communication-demonstration\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/solutions-and-impact\/technologies\/networks\/networks\/japanese-consortium-led-by-softbank-plans-leo-haps-optical-communication-demonstration\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/solutions-and-impact\/technologies\/networks\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Demonstration-model-of-LEO-Satellite.jpg","datePublished":"2025-10-21T15:38:29+00:00","dateModified":"2025-10-21T15:38:43+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/solutions-and-impact\/technologies\/networks\/networks\/japanese-consortium-led-by-softbank-plans-leo-haps-optical-communication-demonstration\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/solutions-and-impact\/technologies\/networks\/networks\/japanese-consortium-led-by-softbank-plans-leo-haps-optical-communication-demonstration\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/solutions-and-impact\/technologies\/networks\/networks\/japanese-consortium-led-by-softbank-plans-leo-haps-optical-communication-demonstration\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/solutions-and-impact\/technologies\/networks\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Demonstration-model-of-LEO-Satellite.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/solutions-and-impact\/technologies\/networks\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Demonstration-model-of-LEO-Satellite.jpg","width":616,"height":450,"caption":"Two metallic, box-shaped satellite units with flat surfaces and visible screws sit on a neutral background. 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