TOKYO (WiMAX Day). The Japanese mobile operator Softbank, and broadband provider eAccess competed diligently to win one of the two licenses for WiMAX spectrum in Japan last year. However their OpenWin consortium, which included investment bank Goldman Sachs, did not win one of the highly coveted license.

During the bid process, Softbank president Masayoshi Son, President of Softbank, made public his view that “It would be wrong if entities belonging to the same capital group” were awarded licenses. He referred to the companies KDDI and Willcom, both of whom eventually won the two available licenses, and indeed have related shareholders.

At a Radio Regulatory Council meeting in Tokyo yesterday, sources say that Masayoshi Son told officials that the award of licenses to KDDI and Willcom by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications was “unacceptable,” and it is possible that Softbank might petition for an investigation into the auction process, and demand re-allocation of the spectrum licenses.

Meanwhile, earlier this month eAccess acquired a 13.1% stake in broadband access provider ACCA Networks. ACCA has been testing WiMAX extensively in Japan for the last year, and was also a partner with NTT DoCoMo in their failed bid for the WiMAX licenses.

eAccess is now the largest shareholder of ACCA, and yesterday the company moved to change management and re-organise the company. eAccess said the company seeks to “enhance the efficiency of ACCA’s ADSL business and expand its business areas.” Yet sources say that eAccess is also trying to cripple any possible re-bid by NTT DoCoMo by stealing its strongest WiMAX partner.

The Radio Regulatory Council also met yesterday to discuss the re-allocation of 3.4 ~ 3.6 GHz radio frequencies in Japan. This spectrum is currently used by TV broadcasters, and an allocation plan is underway to quickly transition this spectrum to make way for use with WiMAX services.

If this spectrum is approved for re-allocation, sources say that the OpenWin consortium is positioning itself now to be the leading contender for this 4G spectrum band.