With anywhere communications becoming essential in today’s digital world, SoftBank and Intelsat have agreed to collaborate on a a single “Ubiquitous Network” that enables users to stay connected everywhere they go.
They will jointly lead research and development of seamless 5G connections between terrestrial mobile networks and satellite communications networks.
The partners will jointly develop a hybrid communication solution that allows users to stay connected via any available terristrial or satellite anywhere in the world via one device and one account.
The proposed solution leverages existing cellular network architectures, interfaces and processes that currently enable seamless device roaming across terrestrial networks. By building on these established standards, it will accelerate the commercial adoption of mobility solutions based on the new 3GPP 5G specifications for non-terrestrial networks. This approach will significantly expedite the development of such advanced connectivity solutions.
A key goal is to develop a universal device that will always stay connected anywhere in the world. For example, a 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. Such a device can be used in land mobile, remote locations, maritime and disaster response and recovery, and more.
Design, development, field testing and commercialization 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.
“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,” said Bruno Fromont, Chief Technology Officer of Intelsat.
“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,” said Hideyuki Tsukuda, Executive Vice President and CTO of SoftBank.
Entelechy Asia 