Mobile WiMax gets thumbs-up in Japan

Mobile WiMax could soon be coming to Japan.

The long-range wireless broadband technology, which received its official certification late last year, is set to be rolled out in the land of the rising sun by telecoms operator KDDI.

The company has just completed field trials of the technology in area around the city of Osaka, in order to assess how mobile WiMax performs in an urban environment.

KDDI also put the technology under the spotlight to measure the high-speed handover between base stations, which it said is satisfactory at speeds of up to 120kmph. The operator also demonstrated handover between mobile WiMax and 3G variant EV-DO.

In addition, the Japanese operator is working on a system that will choose the right radio technology - cellular, wi-fi, or mobile WiMax, for example - depending on what activity the user is carrying out at the time.

According to consultancy Senza Fili, there will be 15.4 million WiMax subscribers in 2010, 41 per cent of whom will be based in the Asia-Pacific region. The consultancy said the region's demand for portable and mobile services will spur the uptake of the mobile flavour of WiMax.