A few months ago, the Japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication announced that the 2.5GHz bid will not be granted to one of the top 3G operators (KDDI, DoCoMo, Softbank).
In a recent press release which was covered in all news sites: Forbes, Japan Times, Asahi and many other, DoCoMo has formed an alliance with Acca to bid for the License. Acca is a DSL provider that for some time now examines going into the WiMAX business as an evolution from the fixed to wireless. Acca’s WiMAX page is here. Acca’s WiMAX blog was here. (Closed recently).
The other big competitors are not lagging behind and already formed similar alliances:
1) KDDI with Kyocera (Willcom)
2) Softbank with eAccess
Applications for the bid start Sept. 10th, and ends Oct. 12th. It will be interesting to see who wins the license, and what the other companies will do as a response. Looks like everyone is interested in deploying WiMAX.
disclaimer: This is a personal blog. The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer. (I am working for a WiMAX equipment vendor).