Any of these guys licensed for 3G?
Matsushita/Panasonic, Mitsubishi Electric, Motorola, NEC, Nokia, Sharp, and Toshiba
Old but interesting history:
csjapan.doc.gov
B. COMPETITIVE SITUATION: Japan's wireless market is growing so rapidly that current systems are expected to reach maximum capacity by the end of this decade. To cope with this situation, DDI's Cellular Group and IDO have adopted CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) technology as they believe CDMA is a more efficient use of the spectrum than any other currently available technology. IDO and DDI Group demonstrated CDMA 95 services at Com Japan '97, the largest telecommunications trade show in Japan organized by CIAJ (the (Communications Industry Association of Japan) near Tokyo in November 1997. Experts who observed the new system were quoted as saying that the voice quality is "very good." The two groups plan to begin providing services using CDMA 95 in the autumn of 1998. However, there is a great concern whether or not the CDMA 95 services will be compatible with an alternative technology: NTT DoCoMo's Wide-band CDMA. NTT DoCoMo is currently developing Wide-band CDMA technology with domestic and foreign vendors and is trying to make its technology an international standard, i.e., IMT 2000. Other wireless carriers, in particular DDI and IDO, are naturally hopeful that NTT DoCoMo will make any alternative compatible with existing systems, rather than exclusionary. Reportedly, NTT DoCoMo has reached an agreement with European vendors and their GSM system (currently used by 100 countries worldwide) for the air interface. The network interface is based upon NTT's traditional infrastructure and every vendor has no choice but to accept an NTT standard. The U.S. government continues to be concerned as to whether NTT DoCoMo's W-CDMA system could adversely affect fair competition and is monitoring the situation closely. Many countries are working on independent wireless systems and would prefer to make them a world standard, but Japan is ahead of other countries by virtue of its plan to use a 2Mbs rate to deploy a product called Future Public Land Mobile Telecommunications System / International Mobile Telecommunications, or FPLMTS/IMT-2000. The speed under development is faster than other systems being considered. NTT developed this technology by working with a select group of elite vendors, and the system will deploy wideband code division multiple access (W-CDMA) technology. The ITU's WARC-92 has assigned FPLMTS a frequency of 2GHz with 230MHz bandwidth. DoCoMo's version of FPLMTS/INT-2000 is being designed to transmit not only high-quality voice and data, but also high-quality moving pictures. In January 1997, NTT DoCoMo selected vendors to develop "Wideband-CDMA" technology based on Track III procurement procedures contained in the U.S.-Japan NTT Procurement Agreement. NTT DoCoMo has completed mobile unit prototypes in coordination with Matsushita/Panasonic, Mitsubishi Electric, Motorola, NEC, Nokia, Sharp, and Toshiba (vendors selected for base stations include Ericsson, Fujitsu, Lucent Technologies, Matsushita/ Panasonic, and NEC). NTT DoCoMo announced that the radio transmission prototype tests resulted in 2 Mbps; the target date for rolling out W-CDMA services in Japan is the end of 2000 or early 2001. As part of its effort to establish the NTT DoCoMo's W-CDMA system as an IMT 2000 international standard, NTT DoCoMo has created test platforms at its Yokosuka Research Park (YRP) located in Kanagawa Prefecture. NTT DoCoMo has invited domestic and foreign carriers and vendors to connect their mobile units to W-CDMA base stations and to connect their base stations to the W-CDMA mobile units. There are six cell sites. Test menus include high-quality voice (approx. 8kbps), modem transmission (28.8 kbps), unrestricted digital data transmission (64 kbps); packet data transmission (over 384 kbps); and moving pictures transmission (over 384 kbps). Functionality test items include sector structure, base station system structure, high-speed cell search, diversity hand over (DHO), random access, and ATM transmission. Tests will be conducted in indoor and outdoor environments: indoor tests from June 1998 through March 1999; and outdoor tests from October 1998 to September 1999. NTT DoCoMo has made public the following specifications of the W-CDMA test systems: Radio Access DS-CDMA/FDD Carrier spacing 5MHz (/1.25/10/20MHz) Chip rate 4.096Mcps (/1.024/8.192/16.384Mcps) Modulation Data-QPSK, Spreading-QPSK Detection (Reverse & forward link) Pilot Symbol Aided Coherent RAKE TCH rate up to 384kbps (up to 2Mbps) Variable rate TCH Variable Spreading Factor Multi Code Transmission for High rate TCH Frame length 10ms Voice Codec G.729 CS-ACELP Inter BS Synchronous Asynchronous Signaling Protocol Layered Protocol Multiple Protocol Control Entities (B)-ISDN based Call Control Services Voice, Packet data Unrestricted information transmission Source: NTT DoCoMo Note: The above specifications are subject to change as tests proceed. For further details, interested vendors and carriers should contact the Research and Development Department, NTT Mobile Communications Network, Inc.; Address: Shin Nikko Bldg., 112th Floor East Tower, 2-10-1 Toranomon, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105-8436 Japan; tel: 81-3-5563-7321; fax: 81-3-5563-7269. Home Page: nttdocomo.co.jp. According to NTT DoCoMo, access to its W-CDMA test systems is solely to facilitate this technology's adoption as a world standard. NTT DoCoMo does not intend to add new vendors to the ones who have produced W-CDMA prototypes developed under Track-III Procurement Procedures. NTT DoCoMo will, however, conduct follow-on purchases from selected vendors under Track III/A Procurement Procedures. The Track III/A Procedure allows new entrants to make proposals to sell Wideband-CDMA products to NTT DoCoMo as long as those products are in compliance with the specifications previously worked out between NTT DoCoMo and its vendors selected under Track III procedures in January 1997. |
