US telecom firm NextWave Wireless has apparently decided to sell its stake in IP Mobile, only one month after it became the majority shareholder, according to this announcement [.pdf in Japanese]. In July NextWave signed a definitive agreement to aquire 69.23 percent of the company from Mori Trust. IP Mobile was awarded an operating licence in November 2005 and was given two years to launch mobile broadband services.
Fresh off the wires from JCN; KDDI, Intel, JR, Kyocera, Daiwa, and the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi have agreed to a new form joint venture, named Wireless Broadband Planning K.K. (WBPK), in order to bid on the 2.5GHz frequency band for Mobile Broadband Wireless Access System. Subsequent to obtaining a license, it will develop and operate a wireless network based on mobile WiMAX technology.
DoCoMo has announced a new flat-rate data plan designed for mobile PC users who connect to the DoCoMo network via a FOMA PC card, USB-linked DoCoMo phone or HSDPA-capable PC, assure that heavy or regular users of packet-data communications won’t have to worry about widely fluctuating monthly bills. Subscribers will be able to trial the service for 4,200yen/month on an unlimited basis between October 22, 2007 and January 31, 2008.
Japan Radio Co. (JRC) announced the new WIPAS-26 series, a broadband wireless point-to-multipoint communication system operating at 26 GHz providing high-speed IP access at up to 80 Mbps, is ready for worldwide distribution. The system was co-developed with NTT in order to enable a wireless broadband solution designed to deliver connection speeds competative to an optical cable network.
Hitachi and Alvarion have agreed to develop Broadband Mobile Wireless Access System using Mobile WiMAX technology jointly in Japan and overseas market. The goal of this agreement is to develop system solutions, combining base station technology of Alvarion with the mobile gateway technology, construction and maintenance technology of Hitachi. Alvarion also announced activity in this space recently with NTT West in Okinawa.
ACCESS has announced the addition of eight new members to the growing roster of companies supporting its ACCESS Linux Platform and NetFront browser technologies through the ACCESS Connect Ecosystem (ACE) global partner program. The addition of the eight new members brings the total number ACE partners to over 65. ACE partners work closely with ACCESS to expand the mobile Linux market and help fuel the growth of converged technologies and devices.
According to Reuters, UK-based O2 and Australia’s Telstra Corp. said on Tuesday they would end NTT DoCoMo’s i-mode Internet phone service. Mobile phone operator O2, which is owned by Spain’s Telefonica said the limited range of devices that carried the service had restricted its growth. O2 will continue to support the service for the next two years but will not launch any new i-mode handsets from July 2007, it said.
Millimeter-wave communication is a highly anticipated solution that offers high-speed wireless communication in the 60GHz band, a frequency over ten times higher than that of wireless LAN. The new fabrication process uses a low-cost CMOS process to achieve high-speed, highly-integrated wireless communications over short distances, and will support development of consumer applications. According to Physorg, Toshiba unveiled the technology on June 15 at the 2007 Symposia on VLSI Circuits, in Kyoto.
Comverse announced that eMobile has selected Comverse InSight Open Services Environment and Comverse SMSC SMS text messaging solution to provide subscribers with messaging and call completion value-added services. Initial InSight services to be deployed include Voicemail, Call Return and a range of personalization features. Comverse SMSC will handle text messaging between handsets as well as notification from various applications.
Kyocera Wireless has announced a free firmware update for its KR1 Mobile Router to support a variety of EV-DO Rev.A devices. The KR1 Mobile Router is a universal accessory that is compatible with most EV-DO PCMCIA cards, ExpressCards as well as USB-enabled devices and EV-DO handsets.
