Softbank Corp and eAccess Ltd plan to step up their testing of next-generation cell-phone systems by this fall to collect more data. The companies are working toward launching TDD (time division duplex) cell-phone services, which are suitable for high-speed data communications. Accumulating sufficient test data is deemed key to securing a slot when the Ministry of Telecommunications allocates frequencies for TDD services as early as 2005.
NEC has announced the development of a GPS-based golfer information service, whereby the locations of players on a golf course and their scores are displayed on a large screen or a PC monitor in realtime. The service will be tested in August at the NEC Karuizawa 72 Golf Tournament, where NEC’s NESPIT III positioning terminal, NEC Software Chubu’s realtime GPS, Scala’s InfoChannel3 broadband display solution, and NEC’s UNIVERGE IP8800 multilayer switches and UNIVERGE WL wireless LAN systems will be used for the test.
The Ministry of Information and Communication decided to adopt the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.16x , the broadband wireless access platform as the standard of WiBro (Wireless Broadband), portable Internet service that will be commercialized in Korea from 2006. The MIC also said that it would designate a portable Internet service provider that can offer broadband Internet services available on the move in February 2005.
Japan’s telecommunications ministry reportedly plans to introduce a new tax for spectrum used by home information appliances and high-bandwidth wireless local area networks. The proposed fee would be collected when users purchase LAN products, according to a media report. We’re waiting for the ‘crats to propose a tax on garage door openers next.
Radioplan, a leading supplier of 3G radio network simulation, optimisation, and measurement analysis solutions, has been selected to supply radio network optimisation tools and services to four new customers in EMEA and Japan. Following extensive technical trials and evaluations of a wide range of tools, Radioplan?s WiNeS optimisation platform and consulting services were chosen to support demanding pre-launch optimisation projects by both 3G vendors and 3G mobile operator clients.
KDDI has announced “Office Wise”, a new au based service designed to provide an inexpensive mobile and seamless PBX call-service alternative for corporate clients in their local office buildings and plant areas. “Office Wise”, the first service of its kind in the industry, will launch on November 30, 2004, in the Tokyo area, with rapid expansion to the Osaka and Nagoya areas. Office Wise customers use the local area wireless call service by simply installing the required Office Wise equipment at the business site and pre-registering a local area number (up to 11 digits) for use with their au mobile phone units. In addition to calls between registered mobile phones, users can make calls to the extension lines of existing PBX networks by simply adding the “*55” prefix to the extension line number being called.
