SingTel announced a suite of content to be accessed on its 3G network in the coming months. Mr. Lim Chuan Poh, SingTel’s Executive VP for Consumer Business & CEO of SingTel Mobile, said: “SingTel ran two successful 3G consumer trials last year. From the trial, we found that video calls, high-speed Internet access and high-speed video streaming were among the most popular 3G services.”
Japan’s top mobile operator NTT DoCoMo said it will offer text-messaging with five other Asian countries and advanced sound systems on phones, after predicting tough times ahead for the market. The new service is part of the company’s effort to meet Japanese subscribers’ growing demand for exchanging short text messages both at home and overseas. In Japan, short text-messaging is a key function of mobile phones.
Today marks the launch of WirelessMatch.co.uk, an online mobile and wireless accelerator programme developed to match early stage wireless applications, content and technology companies with private equity investment of between £50,000 – £1.5m. Founded by senior executives from Gorilla Park, Move2Mobile and Lucent, WirelessMatch screens applicants that apply to be listed on the site by performing an expert technological, commercial and financial review. This process allows WirelessMatch to ascertain whether the applicants are investment ready.
According to the company, NTT DoCoMo will participate in 3GSM World Congress 2005, an exhibition of the latest telecommunications technologies, services and R&D. The event will be held 14-17 February 2005 at the Palais des Festivals et des Congres in Cannes, France. The company says it will exhibit its world-leading 3G services, which are based on W-CDMA technology. Visitors can enjoy demonstrations of videophones and movies on the latest FOMA 901i-series terminals, learn about the technology supporting 3G networks, and see i-mode FeliCa mobile phones equipped with contactless FeliCa IC technology. NTT DoCoMo will also provide touch & try demonstrations of 3G services.
NTT DoCoMo and StarHub Ltd., today jointly announced a strategic partnership under which StarHub will launch i-mode™ services exclusively in Singapore by the fourth quarter of this year. With this agreement, i-mode will be available in 22 countries and regions through 14 operators. Under the DoCoMo-StarHub agreement, StarHub will offer i-mode services over both its 2.5G and 3G networks with DoCoMo providing its expertise in patents, branding, marketing, knowledge and technology.
Japan’s Big Three cellcos, NTT DoCoMo, KDDI, and Vodafone, released their Oct-Dec 2004 quarterly financials in the past fortnight, and there’s a lot of information to be digested. If the endless listings of multi-billion-yen profits bore you, then it might be interesting to take a look at some of the new technologies, service models, and data tariffs that were announced along with the financial results.
NTT DoCoMo have announced a live webcast on their IR website focusing on the new 700i-series handsets. The webcast will run Wednesday, 2 February 2005, at 17:45 JST. The presenter will be Kiyohito Nagata, VP and Managing Director of the Product Department; the title is: FOMA 700i-series Presentation. These new handsets are significant as they are expected to be smaller, lighter and less expensive than its current line-up of 3G phones thanks to some features being left out while retaining key 3G functions. Here are the webcast timings in other locations, courtesy of Time & Date.com.
Vodafone raised the competitive bar a couple a couple notches today with the announcement of two new killer swivel clamshells phones: the V603T and V603SH (from Toshiba & Sharp; both 2G). The company said the V603SH is the first phone to feature a Motion Control Sensor that recognises and responds to movements. Jointly developed by Aichi Steel Corp. and Vodafone, the one-chip sensor allows customers to perform menu operations by moving the handset up, down, left or right. Vodafone think this will allow new possibilities with mobile gaming, such as aiming a gun by moving the handset while playing shooting games or swinging the phone like a golf club to hit a ball in golf games. Watch our video clip of the new V603SH above taken at the press event (shot with a V902SH handset); use Quick Time or Real Player to view this 3GPP video file.
NTT DoCoMo held an analysts meeting to annouce financial results for 3QFY2004 on 28 January. Some interesting points [PDF] include Big D’s plan to introduce a new line of low-budget FOMA 3G phones later in 2005. The “70X-series” includes a PDA-style dual-mode unit by Motorola and is based on a 2005 roadmap for cutting procurement costs by sourcing handsets from foreign vendors.
NEC Corporation and NEC Telecommunications (China) announced that it has commenced production of 3rd Generation mobile radio base stations (Node-B) at one of the production site of NEC Telecommunications (China). The first lot of the products has been delivered in January 2005 to Europe and the plant is ready for manufacturing Node-Bs for China. The production base procures major core pre-product modules, such as channel coding cards and line cards, from NEC’s major manufacturing sites in Japan (NEC Saitama Ltd. and NEC Wireless Networks Ltd.), and other general parts such as power modules and racks from local vendors.
