NTT DoCoMo's FOMA Still Lacks Luster
November 19, 2001 (TOKYO) -- NTT DoCoMo Inc. launched its third-generation
commercial wireless communications service called FOMA on Oct. 1. However, it had to
start the new service without international roaming, one of the main features of the
service, and with higher-speed multimedia services available only in limited service
areas.
The FOMA service certainly has some attractive features, including a futuristic video
phone capability and a high voice quality. But at the same time, it has such issues as
high communications fees and limited service area coverage.
Tough Start with Some Restrictions
As the name indicates, FOMA (Freedom of Mobile Multimedia Access) is designed to
realize a new, innovative mobile communications system that can be used anywhere in
the world and realize seamless voice, music, and video communications. However, in the
service that kicked off in October, only part of that grand plan was implemented.
First, FOMA was hastily launched without an international roaming capability, one of
its main features, due to a considerable delay in introduction of the third-generation
mobile communications system by foreign mobile telecommunications carriers. Many of
such telecom carriers considering introduction of W-CDMA, a wireless mobile
communication system also introduced by DoCoMo, are promoting GPRS, an extended
service of the existing GSM communications protocol and an interface one generation
before IMT-2000, instead of FOMA. They are reluctant to make large capital
investments and are disconcerted by inflated prices in 3G auctions. Industry observers
forecast that DoCoMo has to wait another three to four years before it can launch an
international roaming service in full scale.
Multimedia contents, another flagship feature, are not fully available yet. FOMA is
supposed to be able to distribute animation and music, and exchange picture mail,
taking advantage of the higher data transfer speed of packet-switched 384kbps or
circuit-switched 64kbps. However, none of such capabilities were available at the time
of the October launch, except a video phone capability. With some of its main services
postponed, FOMA is lackluster now.
It Had to be the First in the World
For some reasons, NTT DoCoMo had to start the FOMA service to become the first
provider of the third-generation mobile communications system in the world.
First, the mobile telecom giant was concerned with exploding subscribers. Currently,
DoCoMo has about 38 million subscribers of its second-generation or PDC mobile
communications service. The 800MHz bandwidth allotted to DoCoMo was rapidly
running short, and the company was expecting to experience undercapacity in the near
future. That's why the mobile telecom operator wanted to start the third-generation
mobile communications service that use a separate, 2GHz bandwidth as soon as
possible, hoping some of its PDC users would move to the new service.
Secondly, industry observers also believe DoCoMo strongly hoped to maintain its
status as a leading driver of the third-generation mobile communications system.
Initially, the firm was expected to launch the commercial service in May, but it suddenly
canceled the commercial launch for a pilot service with 4,500 monitors. If it postpones
the commercial service once again, the corporate image could be harmed.
Thirdly, DoCoMo wanted to start the service earlier than its competitors, KDDI Corp.
and the J-Phone group. KDDI, which is in a superior position to DoCoMo for its
adoption of cdma2000, a mobile communications protocol highly compatible with the
current cdmaOne, boasts it can expand service area coverage more rapidly than
DoCoMo. Meanwhile, the J-Phone group opted to become affiliated with the Vodafone
group of the United Kingdom, the world's largest mobile telecom operator, and became a
rival to DoCoMo for the next-generation services although the group decided to base
its new service on the same W-CDMA system as DoCoMo.
Attractive, Futuristic Video Phone Capability
The PDC mobile communications service NTT DoCoMo is providing
can also be a powerful rival within. FOMA will not succeed unless it
can snatch many of the current PDC users. Therefore, DoCoMo is
emphasizing some FOMA capabilities that the PDC service cannot
offer.
For example, the voice quality and the data communications speed of
maximum 384kbps of FOMA is way ahead of those of the current
PDC service. In fact, 67 percent of FOMA users said they are
satisfied with the voice quality in a survey conducted on the
monitors of the pilot service. FOMA users can also download data
and browse the Internet at the speed of over 300kbps.
FOMA's higher-speed multimedia services are another attraction. A video phone
capability is one such example. Users can view very smooth animations sent
compressed in the MPEG4 format with little delay on a FOMA phone (photo, left).
Furthermore, DoCoMo is hastily developing services for video, music and other types
of large-capacity data. It plans to start an image clipping service called i-motion by the
end of 2001. It will also launch an additional service to electronic mail called Eizo Mail
and animation and music data distribution service called M-stage in the spring of 2002.
All these services will be offered to win a wider range of users with a variety of
multimedia contents.
DoCoMo also introduced a small-size IC card called
FOMA Card (photo). The card is generally called a user
identity module (UIM). It is designed to memorize
telephone numbers and other subscriber's data. Users
will be able to use different handsets with such a card. In
the future, DoCoMo plans to enable UIM to memorize
credit card numbers, personal IDs and much other
personal information so customers can use a FOMA
phone as a sort of electronic wallet.
Higher Rates are a Bottleneck
FOMA's higher fees can be a bottleneck. For users of the maximum 384kbps
communications, the fee structure is reasonable for i-mode services, but not for data
communications services.
FOMA's packet rate is 0.2 yen per packet (128 bytes), which is less expensive than the
PDC service of 0.3 yen per packet for regular i-mode services. However, in case of data
communications, downloading of a 1MB file will cost as much as 1,600 yen. Users can
lower the fee to 0.02 yen per packet by subscribing to the Packet Pack service for a
monthly subscription rate of 8,000 yen, but they will still have to pay 160 yen for 1MB
of data.
DoCoMo uses different communications methods depending on services to ease the
financial burden on users. For instance, for downloading of video contents, users who
use a video phone and other large-capacity data are charged hourly for 64kbps
switched circuit, and users who use the i-mode and other small data services that
require higher-speed communications are charged based on the number of packets for a
384kbps circuit.
Nonetheless, a user will have to pay 61 yen for a minute of talking on a FOMA video
phone under Plan 39. Some 15 minutes of talk will cost more than 1,000 yen, and users
might think it is still expensive. A musical data distribution service is even more costly.
Downloading of about four minutes of music using 384kbps packet communications will
cost more than 6,000 yen per music title. The fee can be reduced to about 600 yen per
music title if users subscribe Packet Plan 80 for a monthly subscription rate of 8,000 yen
(0.02 yen per 128 bytes). DoCoMo will undoubtedly need to modify its tariff structure in
the future.
Current limited service area coverage and the relatively slow pace of expanding such
coverage are also drawbacks. The FOMA service is currently available within National
Route 16 (within a radius of about 30 kilometers from the center of Tokyo), but in this
case, users are assumed to be located in a fixed, outdoor spot. The service is frequently
interrupted while driving on a highway, and becomes unavailable inside a building.
The relatively slow pace of adding new service areas is another problem. It will take
until March 2004 until its service area coverage is expected to reach 90 percent of the
nation.
Despite its advanced basic performance, FOMA's service area coverage is still limited,
its communications rates are high, and there are not many additional services. The
current FOMA service still has a way to go before it becomes a truly satisfactory
service. (122.19 yen = US$1)
(Sayaka Kato, Staff Editor, Nikkei Mobile)
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