New market entrant IPMobile, which was granted a carrier license by Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications in November 2005, will conduct advanced TD-SCDMA field trials in Tokyo later this month. While the company’s commercial launch – expected in early 2007 – will offer a maximum theoretical download speed of 11Mbps, the so-called E-R7 (evolved release 7) promises data-centric downloads as fast as 42.2Mbps.
Japan has launched live-cast for DoCoMo 3G phones, one of the world’s largest geostationary satellites, in a bid to improve mobile telephone reception in remote areas. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency launched the H-2A rocket at 3:32 pm (12:02 IST) as planned after a postponement Saturday due to cloudy weather at the launch site at Tanegashima in southern Japan. The experimental satellite, which is known as Kiku Number 8, is the largest built by Japan’s space agency. It weighs about 3 tons and is 40 meters long.
NTT DoCoMo announced today that it plans to acquire approximately 6 million shares of Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company – PLDT – or 3.2% of total issued and outstanding shares, for an estimated 30 billion Japanese yen. The investment will further strengthen DoCoMo’s relationship with PLDT and Smart Communications, PLDT’s wholly owned mobile subsidiary. Smart, with DoCoMo’s backing, intends to launch the i-mode service and expanded 3G services in the Philippines.
The Telecom Carriers Association has released the official Japan mobile subscriber stats for November (current figures updated on our left navigation bar), with several stunning results. While not surprising – after the first full month of number portability – KDDI posted an impressive gain with a net +325,000 customers. In contrast, this might well be the first time that market leader NTT DoCoMo has ever announced a net client loss: -17,500. Perhaps even more shocking was the fact that their prized i-mode service also shed 56,200 subscribers! The SoftBank Mobile customer count – which is ‘confusing’ – indicated a net gain of +68,700 contracts, however they somehow managed to lose 3,600 subscribers to the company’s Yahoo! mobile web portal.. hmm? Finally, we saw the total number of 3G subscribers in Japan cross the 60M mark as the migration continued, showing gains of well over 1 mn upgrades per month.
Oki Electric and Huawei Technologies today announced an agreement to collaborate in the mobile WiMAX business to the telecom carriers in Japan. OKI will provide Huawei’s mobile WiMAX Series products to telecom carriers in Japan starting in the fiscal year ending March 2008. OKI will also provide its products globally with the support of Huawei. OKI has been conducting business in China from the early 1980s, and has been working with Huawei in various areas including optical components. Huawei provides wireless products worldwide, including mobile WiMAX and 3G mobile phone systems.
Fujitsu Limited today announced that it has been selected in NTT DoCoMo’s procurement process to develop and manufacture prototypes and commercial equipment for DoCoMo’s super 3G wireless base stations. Fujitsu has been actively involved in the 3GPP’s standardization initiatives from the outset, and has been developing the fundamental technologies required to improve spectrum efficiency for the Super 3G standard, such as multi-antenna system and OFDM technologies.
