- Tech News & Insight
- September 22, 2025
- Hema Kadia
SoftBank has validated a multi‑cell, end‑to‑end 5G link via a high‑altitude platform payload, marking a concrete step toward stratospheric coverage that works with standard smartphones. In a June field trial over Hachijō Island, Japan, SoftBank mounted a newly developed payload on a light aircraft at 3,000 meters to emulate a High Altitude Platform Station (HAPS) operating around 20 kilometers. The system stitched a millimeter‑wave feeder link at 26 GHz from a ground gateway to the aircraft with a sub‑2 GHz service link at 1.7 GHz from the aircraft to handsets, completing an end‑to‑end path through the 5G core.






