NTT DoCoMo confirms 3G launch in May

date: 03 December 2000, source: Martyn Williams, www.infoworld.com

JAPAN'S LARGEST CELLULAR operator, NTT DoCoMo, will launch the world's first commercial 3G (third-generation) service in Tokyo in late May 2001, the company confirmed Friday.

The carrier said it will use the brand name Foma for its 3G services, which will be based on the W-CDMA (Wideband-Code Division Multiple Access) protocol. Foma is an acronym for Freedom Of Mobile multimedia Access, according to DoCoMo.

Also in May, the 3G service is expected to be available in parts of the nearby cities of Kawasaki and Yokohama, NTT DoCoMo said in a statement.

The network will be expanded to Osaka in western Japan and Nagoya in central Japan by December 2001, and then to main regional cities by April 2002, although the full network build-out will take much longer. These initial services will cover major city center areas only and it will be years before NTT DoCoMo can offer broad access across the country.

When the service launches, users will be able to receive packet data at speeds up to 384Kbps, while the sending speed will be 64Kbps. An alternative circuit-switched service, which will be charged on a time basis, will offer 64Kbps in either direction.

A new feature for users in Japan will be the use of UIM (User Identity Module) cards. Similar to SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) cards in GSM (Global System for Mobile communications) telephones, the UIM cards will allow users to easily switch telephone handsets by simply inserting the UIM card into a new handset. All Japanese cell phones at present are coded for each user and switching telephones requires users to visit a shop operated by the carrier.

At launch time NTT DoCoMo said there will be three main types of terminals on sale: compact basic terminals will be designed with mobility in mind and will support next-generation I-mode services and high-speed packet data; visual phone terminals will feature video cameras and allow for mobile videoconferencing and access to mobile video services; and data communication terminals will be designed specifically for use with high-speed packet data services.

The details of the 3G service were announced Thursday, the same day that NTT DoCoMo announced a deal with AT&T Wireless Group that will see the Japanese carrier take a 16 percent stake in the company for $9.8 billion.

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