Connectivity Technology Blog

High Altitude Platform Stations, or HAPS, are often described rather simply as "flying base stations". The idea is to place a communications platform in the stratosphere, typically around 20 km above the Earth, where it can provide mobile coverage across a much larger area than a conventional terrestrial base station. SoftBank's latest HAPS trials in Japan suggest that this description may increasingly undersell what these platforms could eventually do. In August 2026, SoftBank and US-based Sceye conducted a series of HAPS communications trials off Cape Muroto in Kochi Prefecture. The tests included conventional smartphone connectivity, communications with drones and, perhaps most interestingly, edge computing performed directly aboard the HAPS. SoftBank sees these capabilities eventually becoming part of a three-dimensional communications network integrating terrestrial networks, HAPS and satellites.  The platform itself was Sceye's lighter-than-air, or LTA, HAPS. U...

Back in 2009, I wrote about advances in underwater wireless communications and the challenges involved in connecting underwater sensors and autonomous vehicles. At the time, much of the discussion centred on underwater acoustic sensor networks, where limited bandwidth, long propagation delays, multipath and high error rates created challenges very different from those encountered in terrestrial wireless networks. Nearly two decades later, many of those fundamental challenges remain. Earlier this year, I looked again at underwater communications and the challenge of ocean connectivity, including the growing interest in heterogeneous networks combining acoustic, optical and, where practical, radio technologies. There is unlikely to be a single underwater equivalent of Wi-Fi or cellular connectivity. Instead, different technologies occupy different parts of the range, data-rate, latency and power-consumption trade-off. A new research project from the University of Florida adds another i...

Moving public-safety communications from narrowband systems such as TETRA to 4G and 5G is rarely a straightforward technology replacement. Coverage has to be at least as good as the system being replaced, resilience requirements are considerably higher than those of an ordinary commercial mobile service, and migration can take many years. Iceland provides a particularly interesting example of how this transition might be approached. A presentation at Critical Communications World 2026 outlined Iceland’s current thinking for its next-generation critical communications system. Rather than immediately building a completely separate nationwide 5G network or simply relying on ordinary commercial mobile services, the emerging model combines dedicated spectrum, a dedicated core and MCX capability, and shared hardened radio infrastructure. The starting point is Iceland’s geography. The country covers around 103,000 square kilometres, around 75% of which is uninhabited highland and roughly 10%...

Fibre is usually presented as the preferred transport technology for mobile networks, particularly as operators introduce 5G Standalone and prepare for 5G-Advanced. In practice, however, fibre cannot economically or quickly reach every site. Microwave transmission therefore remains an important part of mobile backhaul. It is especially relevant in rural and suburban areas, difficult terrain, temporary deployments and locations where operators need additional resilience alongside fibre. Huawei’s 2025 Microwave Industry White Paper argues that microwave is evolving beyond its traditional role as a straightforward point-to-point connection. Future microwave networks will need to provide more capacity, operate reliably in challenging conditions, use spectrum more efficiently, simplify crowded sites and make greater use of AI-based automation.  Microwave and fibre are complementary The discussion around mobile transport is sometimes framed as a choice between fibre and microwave. In re...

Back in 2020, I wrote about Finland’s plans to replace its long-established TETRA-based Virve public safety network with a new broadband service based on 4G and 5G. I followed this with an update in 2021 , when Virve 2.0 was still largely a development programme and the expectation was that the existing and new networks would operate side by side during the migration. Several years later, Virve 2, as it is now generally called, has moved from planning, procurement and testing into nationwide deployment. Erillisverkot confirmed in its 2025 annual report that the Virve 2 service had been completed and that its key services were operational throughout Finland and Åland . The complete service consists of four main components: the Virve 2 connection service, Group Voice Service, Group Video Service and Terminal Device Service. All the key services have received approval for operational deployment under Finland’s legislation governing the government security network. The underlying model b...