The Special Message from Masashi Yano, Deputy General Manager, iBurst Division, Kyocera Corporation (7th Oct 2009)

Mr Masashi Yano, Deputy General Manager, iBurst Division

Since the 4th quarter of 2008, the global investment climate has changed drastically.   Financial turmoil and sluggish economy have precluded private sectors and investment   firms from making substantial investment in new projects around the globe. Despite under such business circumstances, a new market – different from consumer-oriented internet market - has been emerging around the iBurst.

In September, 2009, iBurst Association (iBA) represented by Secretary-General, Eddy and myself were invited to visit Kingdom of Cambodia to meet the Minister Council (Cabinet Minister) and the Ministry of Communications and Telecommunications officials. We presented iBurst as Broadband Wireless Access system and as a solution to close the digital divide. The iBurst was well recognized as the most suitable system, especially as a solution to increase a fixed telephone penetration in underserved areas.

The 7th iBurst Forums was successfully held in Jakarta, Indonesia in June, 2009, I attributed its success to the keen support from a local partner, PT Pata Informatika Nusantara. In the seminar, Ministry of Information and Communication addressed that Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) is an efficient and realistic way to tackle the challenges derived from the digital divide in the country. Also, the iBusrt is expected to be a replacement solution of existing FWA system currently working in rural areas in Japan. A government office under the supervision of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) will commence the pilot scheme to test the iBusrt ability in serving the broadband need particularly in rural areas. Against the same background, iBurst will be tested in some member countries in EU as public transportation communications network in near future.

On the other hand, the ITU-D is working on the feasibility study on low-cost wireless broadband infrastructure suitable for rural and remote areas. This ITU initiative is aimed to address the high-speed broadband demand for various e-applications at rural areas, includes the preparedness of effective ICT-based disaster management. In Dec 2009, the eAsia ICT Forum will be held in Sri Lanka to explore the most pragmatic emerging wireless broadband contemporary. I believed that iBurst will find its niche in all these recent international broadband initiatives.