DoCoMo to spearhead Super 3G rollout

NTT DoCoMo Inc., Japan’s biggest mobile carrier, is to spearhead the rollout of an advanced version of its third-generation (3G) services called Super 3G, a company spokesman said Wednesday.

Mobile carriers are expected to roll out Super 3G in the coming years as a defensive measure against the increasing speeds of other wireless technologies such as wireless LAN (WLAN) and the long-range WiMax standard, according to analysts.

The move will be a low-cost upgrade to the company’s current 3G Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) network. The upgrade, which will offer 100Mbps downlink and 50Mbps uplink speeds, will be rolled out in metropolitan areas initially and be operational by 2008, said spokesman Takumi Suzuki.

DoCoMo will not need to replace much equipment to improve the network, which can be completed more easily than the company’s 3G network, he said.

“We needed three years to get our 3G network running, but this network will take a much shorter time. We are targeting the 2007 to 2010 period,” he said.

Getting such a network running so quickly will probably prove difficult, said Kirk Boodry, telecom analyst with Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein (Japan) Ltd. in Tokyo.

DoCoMo will have spent about

Would you recommend this article?

Share

Thanks for taking the time to let us know what you think of this article!
We'd love to hear your opinion about this or any other story you read in our publication.


Jim Love, Chief Content Officer, IT World Canada

Featured Download

Featured Articles

Cybersecurity in 2024: Priorities and challenges for Canadian organizations 

By Derek Manky As predictions for 2024 point to the continued expansion...

Survey shows generative AI is a top priority for Canadian corporate leaders.

Leaders are devoting significant budget to generative AI for 2024 Canadian corporate...

Related Tech News

Tech Jobs

Our experienced team of journalists and bloggers bring you engaging in-depth interviews, videos and content targeted to IT professionals and line-of-business executives.

Tech Companies Hiring Right Now