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Press Releases 2003

Launch of “Yahoo! BB Mobile” Service at Yahoo! BB STADIUM First Public Wireless LAN Service Introduced at an Official Professional Baseball Park in Japan

Jul. 29, 2003

Two SOFTBANK Group companies [Group representative: Masayoshi Son; SOFTBANK BB Corp., Yahoo Japan Corporation (see company profiles below)] and ORIX Baseball Club Co., Ltd. (ORIX Baseball Club) will commence a free trial of “Yahoo! BB Mobile”, mobile broadband communications service which is provided by Yahoo! BB, at an official professional baseball park “Yahoo! BB STADIUM” (Suma-ku, Kobe) on August 1, 2003. “Yahoo! BB Mobile” service is launched on May 2002 and has been operating mainly in restaurants at 506 locations throughout Japan. (As of July 29, 2003) Provision of the service at “Yahoo! BB STADIUM” is not only the first introduction of “Yahoo! BB Mobile” to an official professional baseball park but the first introduction of a public wireless LAN service at any official professional baseball park in Japan.

“Yahoo! BB Mobile” is a public wireless LAN service operating at 2.4GHz band frequency and compatible with wireless LAN standard IEEE802.11b (Wi-Fi), which offers a maximum of 11 Mbps wireless LAN at the location where the service is provided. During the trial service period, visitors can enjoy free high-speed Internet connection while in “Yahoo! BB STADIUM” if they have a mobile terminal compatible with wireless LAN standard IEEE802.11b (Wi-Fi).*1

The SOFTBANK Group signed a naming rights agreement in March this year. This reflects the Group’s dedication to a ballpark concept that aims to create a clean, safe and amenable environment where the whole family, both children and adults, can enjoy themselves and its strong support of efforts to implement the Kobe Reconstruction Plan that includes an initiative to create an information networked society. Through the introduction of “Yahoo! BB Mobile”, the Group hopes to contribute to creating an environment centered on the ballpark concept of “Yahoo! BB STADIUM” and to efforts to create information networked society in Kobe.

[Notes]
  • *1“Yahoo! BB Mobile” stickers posted inside the stadium indicates locations where radio wave is especially in good condition for using the service.
  • *Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity)
    Brand name given to products compatible with the wireless LAN standard IEEE802.11 using 2.4GHz/ 5GHz bandwidth.

Company Profiles

SOFTBANK BB Corp

Company name SOFTBANK BB Corp.
Head office 24-1 Nihonbashi Hakozaki-cho, Chuo-ku, Tokyo
Representative President and CEO: Masayoshi Son
Type of Business
  • The Company engages in the provision of broadband infrastructure and services centering on Yahoo! BB as well as in technical development, marketing, sales and support.
  • The Company offers IT-related distribution and services and supervises and administers affiliated broadband and e-commerce companies.

Yahoo! JAPAN

Yahoo Japan Corporation (listed on JASDAQ; ticker symbol: 4689; Head office: Minato-ku, Tokyo; Established: January 31, 1996; President & CEO: Masahiro Inoue) manages the comprehensive information website Yahoo! JAPAN, which attracts approximately 31.76 million unique users each month* and 570 million page views per day. The website offers 67 different services, including Internet search, content, community, commerce, and mobile services. The global Yahoo! Internet network stretches across 25 countries, including the United States and Canada, and countries in Latin America, Europe, and Asia.

[Note]
  • *Based on a rating of 91.4% (NAR: the ratio of users who visit the site more than once in four weeks), according to a viewer rating research report produced by the Japan Research Center (JAR Report vol. 57; conducted between May 19, 2003 and June 15, 2003), we calculated that approximately 34.75 million Internet users have viewed the website.
  • *Releases, announcements, presentations and other information available from this page and elsewhere on this website were prepared based on information available and views held at the time of preparation and speak only as of the respective dates on which they are filed or used by SOFTBANK or the applicable group company, as the case may be. Such information is subject to change and may become out-of-date. Such information may also contain forward-looking statements which are by their nature subject to various risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results and future developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. Please read legal notices in its entirety prior to viewing any information available on this website.