DoCoMo Connection Fees 'excessive'
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative urged Japan in an annual report Thursday to rectify the “excessive” interconnection rates imposed by giant provider NTT DoCoMo Inc. on mobile networks
DoCoMo
Softbank Drops Lawsuit
Softbank Corp. has withdrawn a lawsuit against Japanese telecoms regulators over a slice of coveted bandwith it wanted for its planned entry into the mobile phone business, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun daily said. The business newspaper said Softbank may have dropped the suit against Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications so as not to hurt its chances for a potential business alliance with Fuji Television Network Inc.
Change of Tack Boosts i-mode Overseas
Directly investing in foreign carriers was a fairly hefty blunder for NTT DoCoMo. It took big financial losses, and failed to establish i-mode as a global force. But a new president and a new plan have seen things change significantly. Former DoCoMo CEO Keiji Tachikawa led a number of huge investments in overseas carriers like AT&T Wireless and Three in the UK, in hopes of turning the operators into users of its i-mode system. The plan failed, to say the least, costing the company $17 billion in writedowns — a far cry from its runaway success in its home market.
DoCoMo Sets Ambitious 3G Goal
DoCoMo has set a target of selling more than 20 million high-speed data handsets this year, twice the number of its customers using such services, to help win a dominant market share. “More than 80 percent of the handsets we sell this year will be 3G, and the total number of 3G subscribers will be more than our competitor for sure,” Takeshi Natsuno, DoCoMo’s managing director of multimedia services, said Monday in an interview. [We noted this strategic move when they announced the low-cost 700i-series in February. — Ed.]
Dilithium adds ISUP Triggering to DNA 3G Test Tool
Dilithium Networks, a leading provider of wireless multimedia solutions, today announced a major new release of its industry-leading 3G protocol analysis and test tool family, Dilithium Networks Analyzer (DNA). Release 3.0 of DNA provides support for ISUP terminal and monitoring (including China), ISUP signaling to initiate and receive calls, and ISUP based trigger for traffic monitoring. DNA 3.0 also incorporates powerful triggering capabilities for monitoring multiple simultaneous channels with the option of capturing traffic upon trigger. An Auto-Dialer feature, available as an option to existing customers, provides automated and unattended testing capabilities. Additional features include enhancements for ISDN support, expanded message logging capabilities, and more.
Human Area Networking Technology
NTT DoCoMo have developed a technology they call RedTacton, “which it claims can send data over the skin’s surface at speeds of up to 2 Mbps — equivalent to a fast broadband data connection. Your body could soon be the backbone of a broadband personal data network linking your mobile phone or MP3 player to a cordless headset, your digital camera to a PC or printer, and all the gadgets you carry around…” Yikes!