DoCoMo disbands WiMAX partnership

Following its failure to secure a chunk of WiMAX spectrum in December, leading Japanese carrier NTT DoCoMo has dissolved its wireless broadband partnership with ACCA Wireless.

Network technology firm ACCA had entered into a strategic partnership with DoCoMo last summer, for the purpose of securing a license to provide broadband wireless services based on mobile WiMAX technology.

But Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications granted the two available broadband wireless service licenses to rival operator KDDI and PHS operator Willcom, rendering the DoCoMo partnership no longer relevant.

KDDI is set to launch WiMAX services in 2009 and may also lease out spectrum to other parties interested in offering WiMAX services, while Willcom intends to launch a next generation PHS system based on OFDM.