February 1, 2024 - The mobile telecom tech future will be on display this month in Barcelona and Japan’s leading mobile carrier, NTT DOCOMO, has some new high-tech gear to tout. Take note, for starters, of the term non-terrestrial networks and the related acronym HAPS.
A HAPS is a high-altitude platform station, launched to extend telecom services beyond the reach of terrestrial networks – to remote mountains and seas and into low-orbit space. The stations are unmanned vehicles that can fly in the stratosphere for days or even months at a time.
They are a key component of Space Compass, a joint venture between DOCOMO’s parent company NTT and SKY Perfect JSAT tasked with building an integrated satellite communications and computing network in the stratosphere and in orbit around the earth.
DOCOMO also plans to display its 6G, Open RAN and XR (extended reality) technology at the Mobile World Congress 2024, an event scheduled to be held in Barcelona from February 26 to 29. In addition to generating new business, this should give it more influence in the development of 6G industry standards.
Meanwhile, the Japanese government has decided to subsidize NTT’s work with Intel and South Korean memory chip maker SK Hynix to mass produce opto-electronic semiconductors for high-speed, low-power data transmission. NTT (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation) is Japan’s national telecom technology company.
DOCOMO’s 6G exhibit in Barcelona will include its latest wireless technologies, non-terrestrial networks and its Human Augmentation Platform for sharing sensory information between people connected to the network.
