SoftBank Corp set December as the target for launching space-based connectivity service using Eutelsat OneWeb’s low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites, a year after the pair reached a distribution agreement.

In a statement, the operator noted it will offer eight service plans with high communication speeds and low latency under the Eutelsat OneWeb name to businesses and local governments in Japan.

SoftBank explained it will offer plans with guaranteed bandwidth and data rates alongside best-effort type communication service with peak downlink rates of 195Mb/s and uplink of up to 32Mb/s.

The satellite communications service targets maritime and mountainous areas where connectivity is difficult to provide with ground-based mobile networks.

Eutelsat OneWeb secured a gateway station licence from Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications last month and acquired a licence for specific radio stations in July.

SoftBank stated the partnership is part of its strategy to build a “ubiquitous network”, expanding connectivity to remote locations by combining ground-based terrestrial and non-terrestrial networks including satellite and high-altitude platform system (HAPS) set-ups.

Domestic rival Rakuten Mobile plans to launch satellite-to-mobile service in 2026 using AST SpaceMobile’s LEO satellites, while KDDI has an agreement with SpaceX’s Starlink.