KDDI Mobile WiMAX Trial Proves Successful

March 07, 2006

KDDI has successfully completed field trials of Japan's first Mobile WiMAX system, in central Osaka.

The trials verified Mobile WiMAX functionality in an urban environment, demonstrating practical communication speed along with basic performance and high-speed handover between base stations.

The Mobile WiMAX system, which will be built in accordance with Wire Communications Standard IEEE802.16e, supports stable, high throughput communications in non-fixed environments at speeds of less than 120km/hour. Each base station covers an area of several kilometers, making the system suitable for providing service in an urban environment. KDDI believes that Mobile WiMAX has the potential to become a platform that will complement 3G mobile phone systems in urban areas.

The field trials also demonstrated the successful connectivity of Mobile WiMAX to 'Ultra 3G,' among others. In addition, the trials successfully demonstrated a seamless handover between WiMAX and EV-DO - the first in the world. An 'Ultra 3G' trial system also connected the WiMAX system to an MMD (MultiMedia Domain) application server via an IPv6 network.

With these trials, KDDI successfully tested services that can only be found on an 'Ultra 3G' platform, including interoperability on both fixed and mobile networks, such as Mobile WiMAX, and automatic selection of the most suitable network for various user functions, such as exchanging picture and sound files.

KDDI aims to commercialize Mobile WiMAX in the future and will continue to carry out various performance tests, including simultaneous multi-terminal connectivity and trials with adaptive arrays.