DoCoMo to Launch FOMA, World's First IMT-2000 (3G) Service, on May 30

date: 13th February 2001, source by: asiabiztech.com

NTT DoCoMo Inc. will launch its IMT-2000 service FOMA (Freedom Of Mobile multimedia Access) on May 30. Kei Irie, senior manager of the IMT-2000 Network Office of NTT DoCoMo's Network Division, mentioned the specific date for the start of the third-generation cellular phone service during a lecture at the NET&COM21 Forum.

It was already known that NTT DoCoMo planned to launch FOMA at the end of May, but for the first time through Irie's speaking, it has given an official date to the start of services. In the beginning, the FOMA service area will cover the 23 wards of Tokyo, Yokohama and parts of Kawasaki.

The plan is to broaden the service area to encompass the route 16 by the end of August 2001, and to provide services in every major city nationwide by around April of 2002. The goal is to provide coverage for 97 percent of the total population by the end of March of 2004.

As for the cellular handsets, the plan remains the same as when the FOMA brand as announced in November 2000. NTT DoCoMo will prepare three types: a handset in two models with a built-in browser that supports the next-generation i-mode service (which is a high-performance version of the current i-mode service), a handset with a built-in camera that supports video functions, and a dedicated PC card-type device for data transmissions.

Irie did not mention on the matter of specific service charges, only saying that the plan is to charge less than now for packet fees.

Regarding subscription targets, Irie gave numbers of 150,000 subscribers by the end of March 2002 and 6 million subscribers by the end of March 2004, adding that those figures are moderately estimated, considering NTT DoCoMo's past experience and the coverage ratio of the service areas.

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