NTT DoCoMo to set up 3G base station in U.S.
infoworld.com
By Martyn Williams
July 24, 2002 5:29 am PT
NTT DOCOMO PLANS to set up a 3G (third-generation) mobile telecommunication base station in the United States later this year to help AT&T Wireless Services sell the idea of 3G services to a skeptical industry and public.
The company will install a W-CDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) base station at AT&T Wireless Services' office in New York, where it will set up a demonstration room equipped with 3G handsets from its Japanese service. The showcase will be open to journalists, analysts, telecommunication operators, and equipment vendors for one year, DoCoMo said in a statement on Wednesday.
The service will operate under an experimental license held by AT&T Wireless.
Once hyped as a major telecommunication revolution that would enhance the lives of millions, the image of 3G services began to tarnish as carriers suffered under the weight of billions of dollars of debt run up by acquiring licences. Equipment vendors admitted handsets and base stations would not be ready in time and the public failed to embrace the ideal of futuristic image videos produced by the carriers.
NTT DoCoMo launched its 3G service, under the Foma brand name, in Japan in October 2001, although the system has failed to impress Japan's 70 million cell phone users. By June of this year, it had 115,000 subscribers, which is still short of the 150,000 subscribers that Keiji Tachikawa, NTT DoCoMo president and chief executive officer, predicted the service would have by the end of March this year.
Japanese users have criticized the high price of handsets, limited coverage area, and the lack of a compelling new application as primary reasons for not making the jump to Foma. To boost interest, NTT DoCoMo recently announced a series of price cuts and incentives for people to subscribe to the system. So far these measures have had limited success.
Martyn Williams is a Tokyo correspondent for the IDG News Service, an InfoWorld affiliate. |
