ID :
47799
Thu, 02/26/2009 - 21:27
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/47799
The shortlink copeid
High-speed wireless broadband service WiMAX launched in Japan+
TOKYO, Feb. 26 Kyodo -
UQ Communications Inc., the sole firm licensed to provide WiMAX wireless
broadband data communication services in Japan, launched a free trial Thursday
of mobile Internet access in densely populated areas in Tokyo and neighboring
Kanagawa Prefecture prior to the start of a fee-based service on July 1.
The WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) service allows
downloads at up to 40 megabits per second, compared with 7.2 Mbps for existing
high-speed mobile data services, UQ, a KDDI Corp. affiliate, said.
From July, UQ plans to charge a fixed rate of 4,480 yen per month for the
universal WiMAX service, while offering four types of data card priced at
12,800 yen or 13,800 yen to plug into personal computers.
Intel Corp. said the same day it is in cooperation with various PC makers at
home and abroad to launch PCs with a built-in WiMAX function as early as July.
The WiMAX technology initially targets business consumers who often use PCs,
but the service is expected to eventually be used in other consumer appliances
like video cameras, portable game consoles and car navigation systems, the
company said.
''By making intelligent home appliances available for WiMAX, a truly different
world will be created,'' UQ Communications President Takashi Tanaka said at a
ceremony for the service's launch.
The service will be available in parts of Tokyo's 23 wards and Yokohama and
Kawasaki cities in Kanagawa Prefecture during the trial period, and the
coverage area will be expanded to include the Nagoya and Osaka areas by the end
of June, the firm said.
UQ said it aims to expand the service to cover 90 percent of the population in
Japan by the end of March 2013.
Tanaka said UQ currently has 500 base stations, representing only 2.5 percent
of 20,000 stations the firm plans to construct to accomplish the 90 percent
coverage.
''We will accelerate the pace of construction of base stations, and make all of
Japan available for WiMAX services in the near future,'' he said.
The new Internet technology was launched at a time when the government is
aiming to double the size of the Japanese market for information and
communications technology from the current 95 trillion yen to 200 trillion yen
by about 2020, Gaku Ishizaki, senior vice minister for internal affairs and
communications, said at the ceremony.
Ishizaki said the government expects the WiMAX technology to provide a ''spark
for the current lackluster economy,'' and lead to the expansion of the ICT
market.
Following its establishment in August 2007, UQ was authorized by the
communications ministry in December that year to launch the WiMAX service.
The firm is now partly owned by KDDI, Intel Capital Corp., East Japan Railway
Co., and Kyocera Corp. among other key shareholders.
During the trial period, the basic fee and registration fee will be waived, but
subscribers have to purchase data cards.
==Kyodo
2009-02-26 22:34:05
UQ Communications Inc., the sole firm licensed to provide WiMAX wireless
broadband data communication services in Japan, launched a free trial Thursday
of mobile Internet access in densely populated areas in Tokyo and neighboring
Kanagawa Prefecture prior to the start of a fee-based service on July 1.
The WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) service allows
downloads at up to 40 megabits per second, compared with 7.2 Mbps for existing
high-speed mobile data services, UQ, a KDDI Corp. affiliate, said.
From July, UQ plans to charge a fixed rate of 4,480 yen per month for the
universal WiMAX service, while offering four types of data card priced at
12,800 yen or 13,800 yen to plug into personal computers.
Intel Corp. said the same day it is in cooperation with various PC makers at
home and abroad to launch PCs with a built-in WiMAX function as early as July.
The WiMAX technology initially targets business consumers who often use PCs,
but the service is expected to eventually be used in other consumer appliances
like video cameras, portable game consoles and car navigation systems, the
company said.
''By making intelligent home appliances available for WiMAX, a truly different
world will be created,'' UQ Communications President Takashi Tanaka said at a
ceremony for the service's launch.
The service will be available in parts of Tokyo's 23 wards and Yokohama and
Kawasaki cities in Kanagawa Prefecture during the trial period, and the
coverage area will be expanded to include the Nagoya and Osaka areas by the end
of June, the firm said.
UQ said it aims to expand the service to cover 90 percent of the population in
Japan by the end of March 2013.
Tanaka said UQ currently has 500 base stations, representing only 2.5 percent
of 20,000 stations the firm plans to construct to accomplish the 90 percent
coverage.
''We will accelerate the pace of construction of base stations, and make all of
Japan available for WiMAX services in the near future,'' he said.
The new Internet technology was launched at a time when the government is
aiming to double the size of the Japanese market for information and
communications technology from the current 95 trillion yen to 200 trillion yen
by about 2020, Gaku Ishizaki, senior vice minister for internal affairs and
communications, said at the ceremony.
Ishizaki said the government expects the WiMAX technology to provide a ''spark
for the current lackluster economy,'' and lead to the expansion of the ICT
market.
Following its establishment in August 2007, UQ was authorized by the
communications ministry in December that year to launch the WiMAX service.
The firm is now partly owned by KDDI, Intel Capital Corp., East Japan Railway
Co., and Kyocera Corp. among other key shareholders.
During the trial period, the basic fee and registration fee will be waived, but
subscribers have to purchase data cards.
==Kyodo
2009-02-26 22:34:05
