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SoftBank Corp. has announced a plan to launch high-altitude platform station-based pre-commercial telecommunications services in Japan in 2026.

Service areas and the number of users will be limited in the operations, the major Japanese mobile phone carrier said Thursday. SoftBank aims to offer the HAPS-based services to general users from 2027 at the earliest.

A HAPS, an unmanned aerial vehicle and also referred to as "a base station in the sky," features lower latency because it operates in the stratosphere at an altitude of approximately 20 kilometers, lower than that of communications satellites. In addition, it can cover wider areas than ground base stations.

The services are expected to support communications infrastructure recovery in the event of major earthquakes and other large-scale disasters, and deliver connectivity to hard-to-reach areas, including mountainous regions and remote islands, SoftBank said.

To launch the services, SoftBank will invest about 2.2 billion yen in U.S. HAPS developer Sceye Inc. and introduce airship-shaped HAPS vehicles from the partner.