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News
Issue #2002 - 13
(April 2002)
(Updated Apr.
3, 2002)
INFRASTRUCTURE, PRODUCTS & SERVICES
KDDI Telecom Takes on DoCoMo in 3G
Service Arena
Competition is finally
heating up in the 3G-service market: Japan’s second largest
wireless carrier KDDI is now going head-to-head with rival NTTDoCoMo
with the launch of its own 3G services using a CDMA 1xRTT network
supplied by Motorola.
As of April 1st, 3G subscribers can access mobile
information services, messaging, multimedia and mobile location
services at speeds up to 144 Kbps.
KDDI is also selling five new CDMA 1x handsets, which are
compatible with the GPS ‘eznagivation’ personal positioning
service; with ‘ezplus,’ which can run Java applications; and
with WAP 2.0, allowing users to access unofficial i-mode sites. The
darling of the lot, however, is the Casio A3012CA GPS handset, which
is equipped with a 350,000-pixel high-quality CMOS camera.
The CDMA2000 service is being offered in 33 of the 477
municipalities in Japan, including Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya and 12
other major urban centers, but, by the end of 2002, the carrier
expects to make the service available to 90 percent of the
population.
For more information: http://www.kddi.com
Mobileinfo Comments & Advisory: Now
you have some competition to NTT DoCoMo in terms of the network
infrastructure. But i-mode and FOMa still seem to have larger subscriber
base and more applications.
Note: This news release may contain
forward-looking statements. Readers should take appropriate caution in
developing plans utilizing these products, services and technology
architectures. All trademarks used in this summary are
the property of their respective owners.
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