TMCnet News
Japanese WiMAX Operator YOZAN Inc. Joins the WiMAX Spectrum Owners Alliance as Board MemberLONDON --(Business Wire)-- YOZAN Inc. (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. The key objective of WiSOA, a global organisation composed exclusively of owners of WiMAX spectrum, is to accelerate the acceptance and deployment of interoperable WiMAX networks through a coordinated global effort. WiSOA welcomes YOZAN as a valuable member who is expected to contribute to and to fortify alliance initiatives. One of the flagship contributions include a Quad-band 16e wave 2 USB device currently being co-developed with Airspan that will enable users to access WiMAX networks virtually anywhere in the world. YOZAN is the first to adopt and provide WiMAX services in Japan and is focused on providing WiMAX-based services throughout areas of Tokyo, prior to expanding services to Osaka, Nagoya, and Kyoto. The company operates WiMAX services over 4.9GHz, which is a semi-licensed, registered spectrum in Japan. YOZAN uses Airspan equipment to offer 802.16d fixed and nomadic services featuring the MicroMAX-SDR base station, which requires a "software only" upgrade to support 16e mobile WiMAX. With the upgrade, the base stations will simultaneously support both 256 OFDM Fixed CPE and SOFDMA Mobile WiMAX laptop cards, handsets and USB devices. On the customer premise equipment (CPE) front, YOZAN is co-developing with Airspan to produce a 16eUSB device that will become the first mobile WiMAX USB device. This device, which is designed to be fully compatible with the IEEE's 802.16e-2005 standard and the WiMAX Forum Mobile WIMAX System Profile in Wave2, is designed to support MIMO, beam-forming smart antennas, idle and sleep modes and handover. As a quad-band device that will operate in all key WiMAX frequency bands, including 2.3-2.4 GHz, 2.5-2.7 GHz, 3.3-3.7 GHz, and the 4.9-.5.4 GHz bands, it will allow users to have access to WiMAX networks almost wherever they are in the world. The device has participated in the Plugfests testing for interoperability of 16e products in the 1st and 2nd mobile WiMAX Plugfests. Sunao Takatori, chairman of YOZAN, comments that "the market is maturing and YOZAN is poised to cater to a growing demand for new wireless broadband experiences, like nomadic and mobile VoIP and other location-based services, of which only WiMAX and WiFi are capable of delivering. We are especially confident and excited about this burgeoning opportunity in WiMAX." "Japan represents an interesting market for WiMAX, and YOZAN's presence will only serve to strengthen our joint objective of expanding WiMAX - in Japan and beyond," said Steve Cosser, chairman of WiSOA. "We are extremely pleased that YOZAN chairman Sunao Takatori has been appointed a WiSOA board member." NOTES TO EDITORS About WiSOA WiSOA (WiMAX Spectrum Owners Alliance) is the first global organisation composed exclusively of owners of WiMAX spectrum. The key objective of WiSOA is to accelerate the acceptance and deployment of interoperable WiMAX networks through a coordinated global effort. WiSOA is focused on the regulation, commercialisation, and deployment of WiMAX in the 2300 - 2400 Mhz, 2500 - 2690 Mhz and the 3400 - 3600 Mhz frequency bands. WiSOA is dedicated to educating and informing its members, industry representatives and government regulators of the importance of WiMAX spectrum, its use, and the potential for WiMAX to revolutionise broadband and data access. WiSOA acknowledges that the value of the spectrum is essential to ensuring the unrestricted flow of capital to WiMAX operators. Ensuring this can be achieved is an essential objective for WiSOA. For further information, please visit www.wisoa.com and WiSOA's www.wimaxday.net. WiSOA members include: Austar, Max Telecom, Nextwave Wireless, Unwired Australia, UK Broadband, YOZAN, Irish Broadband, Telecom New Zealand, Woosh Wireless, Nomad, Liberty Global, WiMAX Telecom, YTL Corporation Berhad, and Cosmoline. About YOZAN Inc. YOZAN Inc. is the first Japanese company to offer WiMAX services since its launch of service in December 2005. YOZAN is a venture company that owns over 65,000 valuable mounting assets throughout key areas of Tokyo and adjacent prefectures upon which WiMAX network infrastructure can be deployed; and which assets will also be wholesaled to MVNO partners (the company is focused on providing coverage to high-speed wireless broadband metro-zones in increments). In addition, the company owns 280MHz paging frequency, which features arcing capabilities and excellent penetrability as transmission ranges travel several tens of kilometers in radius. The company has independently developed these base stations to be IP-compatible and has integrated satellite infrastructure into the network to offer government-supported disaster-prevention systems known as Community Information Distribution Systems, poised to cover areas on a nationwide scale. YOZAN will become the sole licensor of the frequency in Japan, as NTT DoCoMo ends its service in the same frequency in March 2007. In this way, YOZAN is poised to stir new wireless business opportunities in Japan and particularly dedicated to contribute to the reinforcement of WiMAX as a global standard. YOZAN is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. More information on YOZAN can be found at http://www.yozan.co.jp/en/index.html |
