Toshiba and Nortel Announce WiMax JV

Nortel and Toshiba have announced an agreement for the joint development of mobile WiMax base stations for Japanese and global markets. In Japan, Nortel and Toshiba jointly participated in the government’s next-generation wireless trial using WiMax solutions, and successfully completed trial service provision in the Tohoku region of northern Japan between December 2006 to March 2007.

“The initial focus will be on the joint development of WiMax products, with Toshiba engineers contributing experience and expertise in radio technologies to Nortel’s WiMax solution,” said Shunichi Kimura, corporate vice president and president and CEO of Toshiba’s Social Infrastructure Systems Company, the division driving this initiative. “In addition to Japan, there are many countries around the world that would benefit from the implementation of WiMax technology and this cooperative effort will make a significant contribution to bringing WiMax solutions to these markets quickly and cost effectively.”

The new base stations will offer low power consumption with high reliability and will feature miniaturized equipment. The base stations’ radio module will be developed by Toshiba, drawing on its strengths in miniaturization and high-efficiency amplifier technologies. Nortel will develop the digital module for the base stations according to the press release.