Four groups vie for two Japan WiMax licences
Reuters
(10/11/2007 6:09 AM EDT)
URL: eetimes.com
TOKYO, Oct 11 - Japanese mobile carriers NTT DoCoMo Inc, Softbank Corp and KDDI Corp and their partners filed on Thursday for licences to supply high speed Wireless Internet access, eager to bet billions of yen on cheap and quick file downloads on the run.
Along with handy-phone firm Willcom Inc, controlled by the Carlyle Group, the four groups are bidding for two 2.5 GHz band frequencies allowing WiMAX connections.
In contrast to WiFi, which works only near a transmitter, WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) enables quick Internet access on laptops and other mobile devices while in a car or on a train.
Japan's biggest carrier DoCoMo and partners like Acca Networks Co, JPMorgan and South Korean carrier KT Corp, are ready to bet 200 billion yen ($1.71 billion) on infrastructure for the new technology by 2015, if they are granted a license, they said.
Softbank, Japan's smallest mobile phone operator, and ADSL provider eAccess Ltd, say they expect capital spending of about 250 billion yen by the same year.
Softbank and eAccess have enlisted support from Goldman Sachs , which would take a 22.4 percent stake in the venture, and Temasek Holdings, which would take 11.7 percent.
"A wide variety of electronics, including games and appliances, would be able to go wireless," said Acca President Masaharu Kimura. "The potential for wireless transmission on trains, for instance, is huge."
Investment in WiMAX would help network device makers and chip makers like Intel Corp, which has been working on the technology.
Intel's venture capital firm Intel Capital has thrown its weight behind Japan's No. 2 carrier KDDI, which has also secured commitments from handset and components maker Kyocera Corp and East Japan Railway Co Other investors are Daiwa Securities Group and Mitsubishi UFJ
But in Japan's saturated market, where many users have already switched to advanced 3.5-generation phones, WiMAX could be a hard sell, analysts say.
It also faces competition from upcoming Super 3G standard, a technology under development by none other than DoCoMo.
"We believe what is important is to be able to meet a wide variety of demand," said DoCoMo President Masao Nakamura.
Acca would take a 46.7 percent stake in the DoCoMo-Acca venture, to be capitalised at 30 billion yen, while DoCoMo plans to take 25.3 percent and JPMorgan plans to take an 8 percent stake. Other partners include Tokyo Broadcasting System Inc and Keihin Electric Express Railway Co
Both Softbank and DoCoMo have also enlisted support from Internet firms like NEC Biglobe, So-net Entertainment Corp, Nifty Corp and FreeBit Co Ltd
Japan's telecommunications regulator, which wants to encourage new entrants, has capped existing mobile phone carriers' stakes in WiMAX ventures to one-third.
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