3G Race Heats Up In Japan

date: April 19, 2002 - source: BWCS

KDDI Corp in Japan is claiming an early lead in the race to gather 3G customers. The country’s third largest mobile operator (Vodafone backed J-Phone recently pipped it for the number two slot), launched its CDMA2000 1x service at the beginning of this month and claims it is on track to record 280,000 3G customers by the end of April. This compares to slower growth at NTT DoCoMo. Japan’s largest mobile service provider is using the WCDMA 3G standard, which claims higher data delivery speeds. Since launching its service in October 2001 DoCoMo has managed to amass only 89,000 3G customers.

However, KDDI’s service which some in the industry still refuse to recognise as “true 3G”, on account of the lower data speeds available, started with several advantages over its rival. Unlike KDDI, DoCoMo had to build a completely new network for its 3G services and has consequently only managed to establish coverage in parts of Tokyo and its immediate environs. KDDI, on the other hand, has simply had to upgrade its existing infrastructure. In addition, all new handsets sold by KDDI are compatible with its new standard. By the end of March 2003 the company believes it will have some six to seven million 3G customers. According to KDDI around two thirds of its new 3G users are existing KDDI mobile customers.

The third-ranked Japanese mobile operator, which markets its services under the au brand, says it has signed roaming agreements with seven foreign operators in half a dozen countries. These are reported to include China Unicom Ltd, which says it will enable au customers to roam onto its networks in Shanghai and Beijing.

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