JTOWER and Metro Weather entered into the master lease agreement for the use of telecommunications towers -First user outside of mobile carriers, to verify the meteorological information-service facilities at telecommunications towers-

We are pleased to announce that JTOWER Inc. (“JTOWER”) and Metro Weather Co., Ltd. (“Metro Weather”) have entered into the master lease agreement for the use of telecommunications towers owned by JTOWER. This would be the first contract of JTOWER owned telecommunications towers signed for applications other than mobile communication network deployments.

Metro Weather develops, sells, and provides data of Doppler LiDAR, which uses infrared rays to receive reflected light from atmospheric dust and particles scattered by the wind, and analyzes using the Doppler effect to capture and visualize 3D wind conditions in real time. To solve social issues using Doppler LiDAR, the company has been conducting joint research and demonstration projects with several companies and research institutes both in Japan and overseas, including participation in NASA R&D projects since 2021.

On the other hand, JTOWER is expanding both indoor and outdoor infra-sharing services that share telecommunications facilities of mobile carriers. For outdoor, JTOWER has started the tower sharing business, in which approximately 5,300 towers are owned nationwide*¹ and rented to mobile carriers. In addition to installing base stations and antennas for mobile carriers, these communications towers can be used in a wide variety of applications, including IoT, public safety, cameras, Wi-Fi, and various sensors.

In March 2024, Metro Weather was adopted as part of the Deeptech Startup Support Fund/ Deeptech Startup Support Project PCA phase (R&D for Practical Application (Late stage)) of the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO).
As a result, from now on, Metro Weather plans to verify the accuracy of the Doppler LiDAR for mass production and will use JTOWER’s telecommunications towers for the verification. Firstly, the company is preparing for using telecommunications towers located in the Kansai region starting from the autumn of 2024. In the future, the company will consider expanding the use of JTOWER’s telecommunications towers nationwide to strengthen metro weather system.

JTOWER and Metro　Weather will contribute to the realization of a sustainable society by promoting the effective use of existing infrastructure facilities along with the development of new technologies.

*¹ As of the end of December 2023. Numbers of towers for which the transfer of ownership has been completed by concluding contracts to acquire from mobile carriers. Since 2023, JTOWER has been acquiring towers from NTT DOCOMO and other telecommunications company and is also constructing towers in-house. Including the planned future acquisitions (current status), the combined total is up to about 7,700 towers.

[About Doppler LiDAR]
Doppler LiDAR is a type of LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) which enables three-dimensional measurement of wind direction and speed up to a radius of 15km area by emitting harmless infrared laser beams on tiny dust that float in the air and receiving the reflected light. This “Doppler LiDAR”, which was created through own R&D, transcends conventional wisdom to realize the world’s best price, functionality, and size. The measurement area of 5 to 7 km has been doubled to a radius of 12 to 13 km, making it 10 times smaller and lighter than other companies, achieving overwhelmingly low cost, and greatly expanding the usable range. In addition, the ever-changing wind conditions can be obtained by the Doppler LiDAR in a three-dimensional fashion, and wide-area and highly accurate wind condition predictions can be visualized in real-time by using proprietary sensing technology, supporting the development of a safe and comfortable infrastructure environment in a wider field.

[Image of telecommunications towers owned by JTOWER]