SoftBank successfully delivered end-to-end 5G connectivity to standard smartphones using an data-analytics-id=”inline-link” href=”https://www.softbank.jp/en/corp/news/press/sbkk/2025/20250918_02″ target=”_blank” data-url=”https://www.softbank.jp/en/corp/news/press/sbkk/2025/20250918_02″ referrerpolicy=”no-referrer-when-downgrade” data-hl-processed=”none”>airborne base station, in a live field trial conducted in June, above Hachijō Island, Japan. The company used a light aircraft flying at 3,000 meters to simulate a high-altitude platform, linking ground infrastructure to devices via a 26 GHz feeder connection and a 1.7 GHz service link.
Unlike most “direct-to-device” projects that rely on satellites in low Earth orbit, SoftBank’s approach uses…
