mocoNews - Intel Capital Invests $43 Million Into Japanese WiMax Firm UQ Communications

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Dianne See Morrison

mocoNews.net
Tuesday, June 9, 2009; 9:00 AM

Intel's investment arm Intel (NSDQ: INTC) Capital has invested $43 million (¥4.15 billion yen) into UQ Communications, a Japan-based WiMax mobile services provider. The company said it would use the money to continue expanding its UQ WiMax service in Japan, and said it hoped to provide WiMax coverage to 90 percent of the country by 2012.

Intel has been one of WiMax's biggest supporters and in the past four years, the chip maker has poured some $2 billion into WiMAX investments. Why WiMax? With the world going increasingly mobile, Intel need to ensure its chips are in mobile devices, rather than those from British chip designer ARM, whose products are in some 90 percent of all cellphones. GigaOM writes, "Intel would love to have a wireless technology that's not controlled by the cell carriers, and is independent from the handset market, which hasn't embraced Intel chips? Getting a few Intel-based netbooks into the carriers' stores is good, but Intel would experience greater benefits by pushing WiMAX as an open system that's available now."