Written by Yanitsa Boyadzhieva
- The low-earth orbit (LEO) satellite market is hotter than ever
- OneWeb has struck a services deal with Japanese telco SoftBank
- The UK satellite provider is also progressing with its Eutelsat merger
- While Telesat and Starlink have also been active with their LEO constellation plans
OneWeb has struck a deal with SoftBank Corp. to deliver communications services across Japan using low-earth orbit (LEO) satellites as part of the latest in a series of major telco deals for the UK satellite company since it emerged from bankruptcy protection in 2020.
As part of a distribution agreement, the Japanese telco and OneWeb have teamed up to deliver “fast communication services with low latency” that will be made possible using OneWeb’s growing LEO satellite constellation.
According to the pair, the integration of OneWeb’s technology with SoftBank’s closed domain connection services will enable “even more secure communication in Japan”, in addition to offering “a bandwidth guarantee” ensuring that customers will have access to the speed and stability they expect. The deal is expected to enable data service connectivity in locations where conventional mobile networks are unavailable, such as remote areas in mountainous regions and disaster-affected places.
