WiMAX Coming to Japan
Yozan Inc, a pager and PHS service provider, recently announced that it would start a fixed-rate public wireless LAN service partly based on the WiMAX wireless communication standard, in December 2005. Ahead of the service launch, Yozan is starting field tests in the Tokyo metropolitan area in June 2005. This is the first WiMAX service plan announced in Japan. The company plans to have developed 600 core basestations and 4,000 relay stations within Tokyo’s 23 wards by December 2005.
In its initial service, Yozan is planning to connect terminals to the Internet by combining two different wireless technologies. First, the Internet backbone and core basestations are connected via optical fibers. Then core basestations and relay stations are connected via IEEE802.16d (16d), a WiMAX standard for fixed wireless access (FWA). Relay stations and user terminals are connected via another wireless LAN standard, the IEEE802.11 series. The company is planning to use the 5.47-5.725GHz bands, which will become available in around May 2005, for 16d. Continue >>