SoftBank and Intelsat to collaborate on 'Ubiquitous Network'

SoftBank Corp. and Intelsat have signed a collaboration agreement that will ultimately lead to the launch of a single ‘Ubiquitous Network’ that enables users to stay connected everywhere they go. As part of the collaboration, SoftBank and Intelsat will jointly lead research and development of seamless 5G connections between terrestrial mobile networks and satellite communications networks.

In a society where everyone and everything is increasingly dependent on staying connected, convenient and always-on, telecommunications are essential. However, despite the coming realisation of autonomous mobility with automobiles, ships, drones and other vehicles, many areas are still without ground-based mobile network coverage and require separate devices and accounts to connect to non-terrestrial networks.

Through the new collaboration, SoftBank and Intelsat plan to jointly develop a hybrid communication solution that allows users to stay connected via available networks, whether terrestrial or satellite, anywhere in the world with the convenience of one device and one account. The solution will build on the same standard architectures, interfaces and processes that enable roaming of devices between terrestrial cellular networks today, but should help make the commercial adoption of mobility solutions based on new 3GPP 5G standards for non-terrestrial networks a reality much sooner.

One of the key goals of the collaboration is to develop a universal device that will always stay connected regardless of where in the world it goes. For example, a future connected vehicle equipped with such a device will be able to seamlessly switch to a non-terrestrial satellite communication network when outside of terrestrial mobile network coverage. The targeted solution is expected to have wide commercial applicability, including in land mobile, maritime, and disaster response and recovery.

Design, development, field testing and commercialisation of new hybrid network products between Intelsat and SoftBank will be conducted in phases, aligned with the development of the new 3GPP 5G non-terrestrial network standards. The resulting hybrid solutions will allow for existing satellite terminals to be used in the near term and newer 5G-based terminals as they become available.

“Intelsat and SoftBank share a pioneering vision of Ubiquitous Networking and seamless interoperability between satellite and terrestrial networks,” said Bruno Fromont, Intelsat Chief Technology Officer. “Until now, the challenge was aligning standards that allowed the two different networks to connect. With recent progress on 5G-based standardisation of non-terrestrial networks led by Intelsat at 3GPP and this strategic collaboration with SoftBank, we are ideally positioned to accelerate the design and practical implementation of commercial hybrid services that will allow devices to freely roam between satellite and terrestrial networks.”

Hideyuki Tsukuda, Executive Vice President and CTO of SoftBank, added, “By using technology that switches between terrestrial mobile networks and satellite communication networks through roaming, we can integrate the two previously separate networks and utilise satellite communication as an extension of mobile communication. Through this joint research and development, SoftBank and Intelsat will aim to build a Ubiquitous Network where people and things around the world can be connected to communication anytime, anywhere.”

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