The Japanese government has issued licenses to allow two of the country’s wireless providers to offer WiMax. The licenses were awarded to a handy-phone firm called Willcom as well as to one of the country’s three main mobile phone carriers, KDDI. Other carriers will be allowed to use WiMax but must lease the frequencies from those two companies which received them this week. This adds additional competition to an already tight market between the three major wireless carriers in the country. Analysts have warned that taking on WiMax deployment is an expensive endeavor which isn’t likely to turn a quick profit. But that hasn’t stopped the new providers from stating ambitious plans. KDDI estimates that it will spend over $1 billion to bring WiMax to ninety percent of the country within the next five years.