US wireless broadband player NextWave said late Friday that it is to become the major shareholder in Japanese wireless operator IP Mobile.

Under the deal, NextWave will acquire 69.2 per cent of shares in the Japanese firm from Mori Trust for an undisclosed sum.

It looks like NextWave, which is developing proprietary chipsets and related network and device products based on the IEEE 802.16e WiMAX standard, struck the deal to help IP Mobile accelerate its deployment of its TDD-based “4G mobile broadband” technology before the end of 2007.

IP Mobile has a nationwide spectrum licence in the 2GHz frequency band and has been working with IP Wireless, also owned by NextWave, toward a commercial launch of TD-CDMA before November.