Monday, April 13, 2009

UQ COMMUNICATIONS ROLLING WIMAX IN JAPAN

Global-Standard Future Broadband Service Start of UQ WiMAX Service and Free Recruitment of Monitors

 Tokyo, On February 26, 2009, UQ Communications Inc. will start a futuristic global-standard broadband service in Tokyo (all 23 wards), Yokohama, and Kawasaki, under the brand UQ WiMAX. This service will enable the use of high-speed mobile data communication using Mobile WiMAX (IEEE 802.16e). In conjunction with the start of UQ WiMAX, monitors are being recruited from today, in order to reflect customer feedback in this new service.

Yokohama and Kawasaki are next with Nagoya and Osaka coming online in June. The monthly flat-rate access fee is noted at 4,480jpy, or about $40, and will be available for free until June 30th. They also indicate that “UQ Wi-Fi” service will be made freely available on the Shinkansen for some commercial clients as of March and all customers as of September. A group, including Intel, JR East, Kyocera and several banks, formed in September 2007, gained official approval from the ministry for the 2.5GHz spectrum.

The chips and dongles are supplied via Beceem Communications. Two vendors, one American and the other Japanese, said they plan to deploy a citywide WiMAX wireless broadband network in Tokyo. U.S. vendor Airspan and Japanese communications operator Yozan said they’ll start trials for the network in the second quarter of this year.

UQ Communications expects to attract 300,000 subscribers to its WiMAX service by the end of the 2009 and expects to attract several million subscribers in the coming years with coverage of more than 90% of the Japanese population by 2012.

1.Service Brand
A high-speed mobile Internet service will be provided under the brand UQ WiMAX, using global-standard Mobile WiMAX technology*.
*This communications system uses IEEE802.16e technology, which has been approved by the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) as a standard specification for high-speed IP wireless communications.

2.Rates
To ensure that customers can use high-speed mobile data communications with peace of mind, the service will be provided entirely for a flat rate.

Menu (basic rate)

<Flat-rate menu>
UQ Flat

4,480 yen/month (inc. tax)

   (Note) A separate sign-up fee of 2,835 yen (inc. tax) is required.

3.Service Area
When the service starts, it will (partially) cover the following areas.

Service areas

Tokyo (23 wards), Yokohama, Kawasaki

By the end of June 2009, the service area will be extended to include Nagoya and Osaka as well.
Service area extensions will be announced in due course on the UQ Communications Web site.
When the service starts, antennas will also be installed in 44 railway stations in the metropolitan area, on the Yamanote Line and other lines operated by East Japan Railway Co., Ltd.

4.Trial Period
During the "Trial Period" for UQ WiMAX service, from February 26 to June 30, 2009, both the basic rate and sign-up fee will be waived.
From July 1, 2009, all customers, including those utilizing the Trial Period, will be billed at the rate shown in Section 2 above.
* Customers continuing to use UQ WiMAX service from July 1, 2009, following the Trial Period, will be subject to the basic rate. New subscribers will be subject to the basic rate and sign-up fee.

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