Vodafone’s answer to 3.5G and NTT DoCoMo’s HSDPA will be trailed here later this year. Vodafone will be conducting fast low-latency access with seamless handoff Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (Flash OFDM) trials in the second half of the year in Tokyo that will test the ability to run 3Mbps wireless data networks.
NEC Corporation announced today the launch of PASOLINK Mx, a new line-up of fixed point-to-point wireless access system in the global market boasting the World’s Largest Bandwidth Capacity. PASOLINK is chiefly designed for telecom carriers’ backhaul, business and emergency networks. It offers simple and highly reliable fixed wireless solutions.
KDDI will release a new 3G handset, the A1305SA, in June. The new model [.jpg image] made by Sanyo Electric features 144Kbps data transmission and global roaming. Designed for international travellers, users of this handset will be able to bring it overseas use the same number, without applying separately for an international roaming service. The handset’s dimensions are 47w x 92h x 24d mm, and weighs 102 grams.
NTT DoCoMo today announced the company’s consolidated financial results (NTT DoCoMo, Inc. and subsidiaries) for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2004. Operating revenues were 5,048.1 billion yen (up 5% year-on-year), operating income was 1,102.9 billion yen (up 4.4% year-on-year), income before income taxes was 1,101.1 billion yen (up 5.6% year-on-year) and net income was 650.0 billion yen (up 205.9% year-on-year).
It’s been a year or so, but finally Vodafone K.K. is attempting an aggressive rollout of impressive (albeit) 2/2.5G handset terminals clearly aimed at fun– and the young. Over the next couple of months the company is adding 5 terminals [.pdf here], including the new V602 from Sharp and V601 from Toshiba that have mulitimedia features even more impressive than those aboard DoCoMo 900i series, as well as an improved radio phone from Sanyo and a clearer TV picture from Sharp. Better still, last week’s news that Vodafone has decided to adopt a FeliCa compatible removable solution for contactless payments shows the company is definitely on board with promoting the mobile phone away from a communications/ game device into become a viable e-commerce tool not only here in Japan, but potentially accross the vast Vodafone empire.
In a report released April 6, Tokyo-based Ipse Marketing gave the results of a survey conducted in January 2004 on the degree of usage of advanced phone features. The report said that users of mobile phones are “more adept at utilizing various functions in a mobile phone than they were a year ago,” and specifically highlighted Java application programs, movies, video, and the use of an external memory card as new features that the average i-moder in the street is increasingly using…
