WASHINGTON – Major Japanese broadcaster Sky Perfect JSAT Corp. is seeking to build its own satellite network as part of its plans to expand its security-related business fields, the company’s president said in a recent interview.
With its communications and broadcasting services in decline, the company is exploring new opportunities related to defense and space, Eiichi Yonekura said in an interview on March 23 in Washington.
“Space is no longer a testing ground, it is a place for business,” he said.
The number of subscribers to Sky Perfect JSAT’s communications and broadcasting services has fallen from around 3.8 million in March 2013 to roughly 2.5 million in March 2026.
But while expressing concern over the outlook for the company’s traditional business, Yonekura remained confident about securing space-related work amid expected increases in such spending within Japan’s defense budget.
Sky Perfect JSAT, together with Mitsubishi Electric Corp. and other firms, won a contract last December to build a satellite network for the Defense Ministry’s enhancement of standoff defense capabilities, or ability to target adversaries from outside their strike range.
Separately, the company aims to develop its own network of 10 satellites capable of capturing images of the same location several times an hour.
Yonekura said that this would enable the company to “maintain 24-hour control” of the satellites without relying on U.S. firms whose services are in high demand due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, among other factors.
Sky Perfect JSAT also plans to start a project to monitor space debris and satellites approaching other satellites in orbit. The system would use an optical telescope mounted on an engineering test satellite set to be launched by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.
Yonekura signaled interest in doing business with U.S. forces, saying “ideally the U.S. military will evaluate the performance” of its services in addition to Japan’s Defense Ministry.
AloJapan.com