Press Releases (SoftBank BB Corp.) 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~

July 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.

  • *1"Yahoo! BB Mobile" stickers are posted inside the stadium indicating the locations where the quality of radio reception and transmission are appropriate for using the service.
  • *Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity)
    Brand name for the products that compatible with the wireless LAN standard "IEEE802.11" using 2.4GHz/ 5GHz bandwidth.

Company Profile

SOFTBANK BB Corp.

Trade 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, supervises, and administers affiliated broadband and e-commerce companies.
Paid-in capital 63 billion Yen

Yahoo! JAPAN

Trade name Yahoo Japan Corporation (listed on JASDAQ; ticker symbol: 4689)
Head office Minato-ku, Tokyo
Representative President and CEO: Masahiro Inoue
Date of Establishment January 31, 1996
Type of Business The Company manages the comprehensive information website Yahoo! JAPAN, which attracts approximately 29.57 million unique users each month* and 439 million page views per day. The website offers 63 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.
  • *Based on a rating of 90.4% (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. 53; conducted between January 27, 2003 and February 23, 2003), we calculated that approximately 32.71 million Internet users have viewed the website.
  • The information is true and accurate at the time of publication.
    Price, specification, contact and other information of products and service may be subjected to change. The information contains certain forward-looking statements that are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements.