FOMA
FOMA

FOMA

Sharp and Panasonic part of new FOMA lineup

Well, that’s two more in the bag. Excitement is building here about what DoCoMo has up its sleeves for the next FOMA rollout. I was relaxing reading a newspaper in my favorite coffee shop in Tameike-Sanno this week and what should I overhear…. Sharp and Panasonic are the latest　cellphone makers to complete development of handsets for DoCoMo’s 900i Foma series. NTT DoCoMo is keeping pretty quiet on the phone’s features right now but, if you’re keeping track, you can add the SH900i and P900i to the D900i from Mitsubishi Electric as part of the new Foma line-up due in the first few months of 2004.

Vodaphone K.K. Fun with 3G Numbers

What’s up with all the analysis of Vodafone recently? The slow uptake of its W-CDMA service and failure to keep up with Au/ KDDI’s cdma1x/WIN service in terms of new subscribers has some press and analysts questioning the carrier’s strategy. But let’s look at the larger picture: Vodafone had 93,200 subscribers at the end of November — its first year of 3G service. That’s hardly a “ringing” endorsement of VGS (Vodafone Global Standard.) On the other hand, it’s not bad at all for a service which has not had the benefit of a high-profile promotional campaign. In fact, Vodafone has only put out a few low-key displays at official shops. In contrast, NTT DoCoMo had 142,400 subscribers at the same point in the life of FOMA and it had been promoting FOMA every chance it could. Now it has decent handsets at bargain prices and a network that it claims covers 99.6 percent of Japan’s population, DoCoMo is adding about 300,000 subscribers per month. So let’s not forget that it’s really still very early days for Vodafone.

DoCoMo to Expand 3G Service Area

NTT DoCoMo, Inc. announced today that beginning December 6, 2003, the service area for DoCoMo’s FOMA 3G mobile phones will cover 99.4% of the population in the Kanto-Koshinetsu region. Its eight regional subsidiaries will also expand FOMA service to an area encompassing approximately 98% of the nationwide population by the end of December. DoCoMo will continue to enlarge its FOMA service area, targeting 99% coverage of Japan’s population by the end of March 2004.

3G Taking Off, DoCoMo Develops FOMA Wireless LAN Phone

Just got news out from DoCoMo today that Big D has developed its first WLAN FOMA module. Details are sketchy at the moment, with official information we could find limited to a single statement in Japanese. However, the IEEE802.11b compatible clamshell weighs 123g and is 103 mm long by 53 mm wide. DoCoMo has yet to release other specs, or say when the phone is going to be on the market, but a big move for WLAN-FOMA has been on the cards ever since Big D announced it was trailing a FOMA-WLAN network at Japan’s gateway to the world- Narita Airport, with Japan Airlines this June. Meanwhile FOMA added a record 334,000 subscribers in October, underpinning the impression that 3G is finally flying. Could the next batch of FOMA cellies, out in February 04 have WLAN? The news comes on top of a recent report on DoCoMo by CSFB’s Mark Berman appropriately titled 2004: The Year of 3G, predicting FOMA subscriber growth surging to a million a month…

DoCoMo Set to Launch 3G Compact Flash Card

NTT DoCoMo, Inc. announced today that it will market P2402, the first FOMA CompactFlash card that will enable 3G videophone and other wireless data communications via PCs and PDAs such as DoCoMo’s sigmarion III, beginning November 28, 2003. The new flash card will enable PDA users to begin enjoying FOMA services, as DoCoMo presently provides the PC typed FOMA card that is only applicable to PCs with PC card slots.