SoftBank Corp and Intelsat set out an ambition to jointly develop a hybrid communication offering, allowing customers to connect anywhere in the world via terrestrial or satellite networks with the convenience of one device and one account.

In a statement, the operator explained the pair agreed to work on joint research and development of seamless 5G connections between terrestrial and satellite communications infrastructure, with the goal of a single ubiquitous network.

SoftBank noted that despite gains, many areas are still without ground-based mobile coverage and require separate devices and accounts to connect to non-terrestrial networks (NTN).

The partnership will build on the same standards, interfaces and processes that enable roaming between cellular networks, with an aim to support the commercial adoption of mobility services based on new 3GPP 5G standards for non-terrestrial networks, the statement added.

Intelsat CTO Bruno Fromont highlighted that with progress on 5G-based standardisation of NTN led by Intelsat at 3GPP and collaboration with SoftBank, it is “positioned to accelerate the design and practical implementation of commercial hybrid services” which will allow devices to freely roam between satellite and terrestrial networks.

SoftBank CTO Hideyuki Tsukuda added by using technology that switches between terrestrial mobile networks and satellite communication networks through roaming, they can integrate the two previously separate networks and use satellite communication as an extension of mobile communication.

SoftBank is pursing a number of NTN connectivity initiatives.

Last week, it set December as the target for launching connectivity service using Eutelsat OneWeb’s low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites, a year after the pair reached a distribution agreement.

Since 2017, SoftBank has been working on various technologies to commercialise high-altitude platform stations (HAPS), which use uncrewed aircraft positioned in the stratosphere, connecting to the same radio waves as existing smartphones.