Japan's Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications announced that it will issue licenses for next-generation wireless broadband service to Willcom and a consortium led by KDDI, according to a report by Nikkei Business Daily on December 20.

KDDI, via its partnership with Intel and Kyocera, plans to introduce the WiMAX service in summer 2009.

At the same time, Willcom expects to launch its own high-speed wireless broadband service based on the next-generation PHS (Personal Handy-phone System) technology in 2009.