It is with great sadness that HAPSMobile Inc. announces the passing of Yoshihito Shimazaki, the company’s long-serving Board Director, Senior Vice President and Head of Technology Administration. He passed away peacefully on December 19, 2022.

Shimazaki first worked for OKI Electric Industry Co., Ltd., which he joined after earning a Master’s Degree in Telecommunication Technology from Osaka Prefecture University in 1986. He joined SoftBank Mobile Corp. (now SoftBank Corp., HAPSMobile’s parent company) in 2004 where his main responsibility was to build a new business by deploying unlicensed TD-LTE solutions.

Shimazaki successfully worked to acquire SoftBank Corp.’s license for 1.7GHz spectrum from Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs in 2005 and Communications (MIC), applied due diligence for the takeover of Vodafone Japan in 2006 and constructed SoftBank Corp.’s mobile network. At SoftBank Corp. Shimazaki also helped acquire a license for 2.1GHz, one of the primary frequencies, built out indoor telecommunications coverage and drove Femto and Small Cell projects.

Shimazaki worked tirelessly to expand network area coverage, including the taking of 3D mobile coverage worldwide by deploying HAPS solutions. He was instrumental in orchestrating many of HAPSMobile’s successes, including the development of Sunglider in 2019 and its successful stratospheric test flight in 2020.

He will be greatly missed by the HAPSMobile team and by all those who worked closely with him.