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The deal, which sent McDonald's shares up over 2.5 percent in New York before noon on Tuesday, will see Softbank install high-speed Web services in the restaurants, charging users a minimum monthly fee of YEN1,580 (USD12.43). After the installation goes forward, diners in Japan can enjoy a Teriyaki McBurger while they surf the Internet on a PDA or laptop computer.
The first six months of the service will be free and the target is to begin rolling out the technology in cities hosting World Cup football games. Twenty Tokyo McDonald's will be the first to use the technology later this month.
McDonald's Japan chief operating officer Yasuyuki Yagi said the fast-food company, which is 55 percent owned by US restaurant giant McDonald's Corporation, may also eventually allow diners to pay for food and other merchandise through the local area networks.
Moreover Softbank's president Masayoshi Son said that the company would also look to offer telephone services over the Internet using the wireless networks.
The news follows Softbank's announcement last September, when the company joined with Yahoo Japan to offer consumer ADSL Internet services in Japan. In fact McDonald's new service will also be tied to Yahoo Japan through its branding, "Yahoo! BB Mobile."
The new service will give users Internet access at speeds of up to 8M bit/sec and will run on the IEEE 802.11b standard, which operates in the 2.4 GHz band.
McDonald's said that the company is testing the wireless networking technology in the US, and is considering rolling out similar services in other countries but had no plans to do so immediately. Meanwhile Softbank said that it would look to launch the service in other types of restaurants and hotspots in Japan.
In Japan, McDonald's has been suffering from stagnant growth after an outbreak of mad cow disease in the country last September and Tuesday's announcement is designed to reinvigorate the firm's customer base.
But McDonald's is in fact not the first fast food company in Japan to link with an Internet provider. NTT, the parent company of NTT DoCoMo, has linked up to fast food chain Mos Food Services Inc to offer similar hotspot Internet services for a YEN1,600 monthly fee. NTT's service goes live later this month and will also run on the 802.11 standard at 200 locations.
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