DoCoMo, Acca grab 5 Net firms in WiMAX bid-Nikkei

TOKYO, Oct 6 (Reuters) - NTT DoCoMo Inc (9437.T: Quote, Profile, Research), Japan's biggest mobile operator, and ADSL provider Acca Networks Co (3764.Q: Quote, Profile, Research) have signed up five Internet service providers to their WiMAX joint venture in a bid to launch ultra high-speed wireless Internet access, the Nikkei newspaper said on Saturday.

The firms include Nifty Corp (3828.T: Quote, Profile, Research), NEC Biglobe Ltd., So-net Entertainment Corp (3789.T: Quote, Profile, Research), FreeBit Co (3843.T: Quote, Profile, Research) and Asahi Net Inc (3834.T: Quote, Profile, Research), who will take stakes in the venture if DoCoMo and Acca win a WiMAX licence, the business daily said.

WiMAX, or Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, allows high-speed and cheap Internet access and file downloads from laptops, phones or other mobile devices over greater distances than previous technologies.

Japan's telecommunications regulator plans to allocate 2.5 GHz band frequencies to two companies.

The DoCoMo-Acca group faces competition from three other bidders: personal handyphone system service provider Willcom Inc.; a group led by Japan's No. 2 mobile carrier KDDI Corp (9433.T: Quote, Profile, Research); and an alliance between No. 3 operator Softbank Corp (9984.T: Quote, Profile, Research) and eAccess Ltd (9427.T: Quote, Profile, Research) Ltd.

((Reporting by Mayumi Negishi, editing by Jacqueline Wong; Reuters Messaging: mayumi.negishi.reuters.com@reuters.net; +81-3-3432-8618; mayumi.negishi@reuters.com)) Keywords: DOCOMO WIMAX/

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