YOZAN has become the latest WiMAX operator to join the WiMAX Spectrum Owners Alliance (WiSOA), and company chairman Sunao Takatori has been elected to serve as a WiSOA board member. YOZAN is the first to adopt and provide WiMAX services in Japan and is focused on providing services throughout areas of Tokyo, prior to expanding services to Osaka, Nagoya, and Kyoto. The company operates over 4.9GHz, which is a semi-licensed, registered spectrum in Japan.
Airspan Networks announced on Thursday they had completed a WiMAX network optimization program with Yozan of Tokyo, Japan. Airspan began this project back in July and the testing period last month. As of 1 September, Yozan had over 100 WiMAX base stations operating in five major regions and the company is said to be planning to launch corporate targeted web services next month.
Yozan has set up a WiMAX feasibility test in the Hokuriku region in Japan building on their previously announced Tokyo network, valued at $16.7 million, to deliver high-speed IP connectivity capable of a wide array of data service offerings. Hokuriku is typical of Japan’s mountainous regions in which it will be more challenging to implement WiMAX infrastructure.
In 2005, Airspan Networks signed agreements with Yozan Inc. to deploy a Tokyo-wide WiMAX network, valued at $16.7 million, to deliver high speed IP connectivity capable of a wide array of data service offerings. The companies has now announced a further $26 million expansion to their contract, bringing its value to more than $42 million. Airspan expects to deliver between $5 million and $8 million of the total in the first quarter of 2006, with the balance by July.
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Yozan Inc. has announced that it will terminate most of its PHS (personal handy-phone system) services in Japan at the end of November and make the shift to its new wireless broadband services starting in December. Yozan aquired the PHS sysytem from Tokyo Electric in August 2002 and has since watched customers migrate to new, faster 3G services. See the company’s Japanese press release, in .PDF format, here.
Yozan and livedoor announced yesterday that they have signed a basic agreement on the provision of livedoor Wireless, a wireless LAN servicve. Under the terms of the agreement, Yozan will deploy and provide maintenance support for a wireless network. Although the partners have yet to decide on the number of base stations and where to install them, Yozan will initially set up 4,000 base stations and gradually deploy them at more locations. The partners have also yet to decide a service launch date.
