NTT, Sky Perfect JSAT to establish space communication network company

The Yomiuri Shimbun

13:45 JST, May 16, 2022

Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. (NTT) and Sky Perfect JSAT Corp. have announced they will establish in July a fifty-fifty joint venture that sets up communications networks in the stratosphere and beyond.

Space Compass Corp. will take on the challenge of building satellite communication networks by using optical communication technology and aims to achieve sales of about ¥100 billion in the future.

NTT and Sky Perfect formed an alliance for space-related business in May 2021. In the new venture, NTT will provide communications technology and Sky Perfect will provide space business know-how, including communications satellites.

In fiscal 2024, Space Compass will launch an optical data relay service for high-speed transmissions via a satellite. This will carry a vast amount of diverse data collected in space, such as meteorological information.

In fiscal 2025, it will launch a new mobile phone network using unmanned aircraft that will carry base stations into the stratosphere. By transmitting and receiving radio waves from high above, a communications network would become resistant to disasters on the ground.

NTT President Jun Sawada said in late April that the company hopes to expand its business into the reaches of space.