SpeedNet Inc., which surprised the nation's telecom industry last year by trumpeting a much cheaper and faster wireless Internet service than other companies' offerings, announced Friday that it will postpone the service's launch, originally scheduled for this summer.
It also announced that President Yutaka Shinto is stepping down in an apparent move to take responsibility for the delay.
SpeedNet, a joint venture established last September by Softbank Corp., Tokyo Electric Power Co., and Microsoft of the United States, said that it will offer another experimental service in Saitama Prefecture from September to February for 300 households, following one that ended in January.
Earlier in the day, the board of directors endorsed the resignation of President Shinto at its extraordinary meeting, the company said.
Softbank and its partners announced in August that they will set up the joint venture to offer unlimited access for a minimal fixed fee by using optical fiber networks of Tokyo Electric Power Co. and new wireless technologies.
But company officials, during recent feasibility studies, have begun to question whether the venture would be able to operate profitably and offer high-quality transmission.
Shinto is a son of former NTT President Hisashi Shinto. Hiroshi Wada, marketing department chief of SpeedNet, has succeeded Shinto as president, the company said.