While satellites may seem to dominate the remote areas of the world that need internet HAPS High Altitude Platform Station has been in development for some time with several competing companies all vying for depending on source at least 2.2 billion people who cannot get internet via fiber optic cables like the rest of us.
5G delivered via airships and drones flying at 20 km altitude is much closer to offering real competition to satellite systems such as Starlink.
Sceye is one such company with a focus on stratospheric connectivity including providing real time data and detection related to methane leaks volcanic eruptions extreme weather and wildfires and has very recently received a large grant from NASA to combine its high altitude platform with specialized hyperspectral sensing. The Sceye system also allows for beamforming and bandwidth focus with a claimed latency of 20 ms which depending on survey or data is less than half that of a Starlink system. Their airships are known for using cutting edge materials that are lighter and stronger than competing platforms while also being resistant to wind temperature and solar radiation enabling months of operation with maximum endurance still to be tested. The company was started more than a decade ago by the Dane Mikkel Frandsen, but is based in the US.
Now SoftBank one of the worlds largest technology investment firms has initiated a deal with Sceye to make use of their airships as airborne 4G and 5G cell towers to provide internet access to those who currently have none. This is made possible because Sceyes HAPS is powered by solar energy cruising at 18000 meters around the clock and operating through the night due to the high amount of energy that can be stored using modern technology.
SoftBank has according to a press release gained exclusive rights to deploy stratospheric airships over Japan and this will be combined with new communication lines to enable not only phone service but also broadband internet in areas that are currently without coverage. In the long term SoftBank will also use unmanned aerial platforms but currently only airship based systems are able to both fly and provide internet all day due to high payload capacity and Sceyes 10 kW solar power system.
While expensive one airship can replace up to 25 conventional cell towers according to a recent study by Aalto University.