Monday May 1, 11:20 pm Eastern Time
Japan's DDI to reveal cellphone format next week
TOKYO, May 2 (Reuters) - Japanese long-distance telephone carrier DDI Corp said on Tuesday it will announce next week the technology format to be used for its third-generation cellphones, adding it had yet to decide which format to use.
DDI will make a formal announcement on the format when it submits an application to the government some time next week, a spokesman for DDI said.
The Japanese government plans to issue three licences for the new service, which unlike current services will offer users global reach.
DDI must submit its application by May 12. Its main competitors, NTT Docomo and Japan Telecom's cellular phone arm J-Phone, have already applied for their licences.
DDI, which will merge with international telecom operator KDD Corp and unlisted cell phone operator IDO Corp in October, has not yet decided which format to use for its third-generation cell phone services, the spokesman said.
Japan's Nihon Keizai Shimbun financial daily said on Tuesday that DDI had decided to use a U.S. format called cdma2000, promoted by U.S. firm Qualcomm Inc (NasdaqNM:QCOM - news). Japan's Kyocera Corp , which owns more than 25 percent of DDI, in February bought Qualcomm's land-based consumer phone business.
DDI also has the option of using the W-CDMA (wide-band code division multiple access) technology, promoted by Docomo and supported by European carriers.
``We're considering both formats and we have not reached any decision yet,'' the DDI spokesman said.
Japanese media reported earlier this year that DDI appeared to be leaning towards using the European format, but DDI officials have repeatedly said it has yet to reach a decision.
The cdma2000 format would enable DDI to cut costs by taking advantage of existing infrastructure used for its current product, CdmaOne mobile phones, which were also developed by Qualcomm, the Nihon Keizai report said.
DDI shares ended morning Tokyo trade up 10,000 yen or 0.78 percent at 1,300,000.
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