3G
3G

3G

NEC's Super 3G Lab Down Under

The high-speed 3G mobile telephony networks of today will feel like the slowest of modems in a few years, thanks in part to the work of a Melbourne-based team of researchers at NEC Australia. The company’s mobile research and development division is charged with creating technologies that will shape the next generation of mobile networks two to five years from now, as networks move from today’s speeds of about 3.6Mbps to 14Mbps and beyond. The Melbourne team represents about one third of all of NEC’s research and development capability in its field.

KDDI's Mobile Revenues Up

Japan’s No. 2 telecoms operator KDDI has said operating profit stagnated in the year to March as a strong performance by the mobile arm offset weak fixed-line operations. Net profit fell five percent to 190.6 billion yen as the company took a charge to write down the impaired value of its old cellular phone facilities. Revenue from its mobile business rose 8.6 percent to 2.51 trillion yen from a year earlier helped by the rising popularity of music downloading service, the expansion of subscribers and a revision in pricing plans.

DoCoMo's Mobile Credit Card Launch

DoCoMo's Mobile Credit Card LaunchDCMX: Is it a phone that can buy stuff or a credit card that can make calls? NTT DoCoMo is hoping that millions of spend-free consumers won’t know or care about the distinction and will simply use the new ‘DCMX’ credit-card phone for, well, pretty much everything. For small, daily purchases — like a six-pack and a take-out bento lunch — use the phone’s e-money FeliCa chip with no authentication required; for larger buys (a cool Louis Vuitton bag from the Omotesando boutique), use the DCMX credit-card function with a swipe and a PIN code; later, the phone will eyeball you for biometric authorization. “We wish to combine telecoms with financial services,” says DoCoMo’s Mr i-mode, Takeshi Natsuno, in today’s video program — and if there’s a cellco anywhere in the world that can afford the value-chain coordination costs to deploy a workable phone/credit card combo, it has to be NTT DoCoMo.DCMX is a logical progression from the carrier’s popular ‘o-saifu keitai’ IC-chip handsets that can store value onboard for small, daily purchases, and the launch announcement confirms DoCoMo’s strategic course aiming squarely at making the network-connected phone the payment method of choice for millions of Japanese. Maybe one day something this useful will be offered by carriers elsewhere?

Vodafone Releases Two New Handsets

Vodafone K.K. has announced that on 22 April 2006 it will commence sales of the Vodafone 804N, a new 3G handset by NEC, in the Kanto-Koshin region. The 804N model [ .jpg image ] will be rolled out in other regions when preparations are in place. The handset touts approximately 450MB of handset memory capable of saving approximately 100 songs. Also available starting this weekend, the V604T [ .jpg image ], manufactured by Toshiba, is a new PDC (2G) handset that features a terrestrial analogue TV tuner and a separate, dedicated FM radio tuner.

Softbank to Improve Network

According to a report by the Nikkei, carried on Reuters, Softbank Corp. will spend about 250 billion yen this business year on improving the Japan mobile phone business it has agreed to buy from Vodafone Group Plc. The investment would be more than the 215 billion yen Vodafone Japan spent a year earlier, the newspaper said.

3G Lessons Learnt – Buyer Beware

BusinessWire has a press release from the folks at Analysys stating that 3G in Japan has hit 40 percent penetration. While we agree that “Mobile operators in Japan and South Korea have consistently led the world in the development of innovative mobile services and technology” and “They have unrivalled track records of introducing new handset capabilities and services, and they are currently the only markets to achieve mainstream adoption of services delivered by 3G networks,” that “40” number is way too low. According to a TCA offical report, the 50 percent mark was actually reached here back in February.