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Technology Stocks : Qualcomm Moderated Thread - please read rules before posting -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: quartersawyer who wrote (26436)	9/7/2002 8:57:33 AM
From: quartersawyer	Respond to of 196976

Clarification of J-Phone 3G plans I wrote to Daniel Skuka of Wirelesswatch Japan: ---------------------- "Daniel, there's a lot of contradictory information floating about, and this [from his interview with J-Phone on 9/5/02] doesn't help: <<"We've been saying we'll do dualmode handsets in 2003, and for us, that means GSM/W-CDMA" . "This way, you get global roaming." Specifically, this will mean "plastic roaming," achieved through the UIM/SIM card that can be transferred from a W-CDMA handset to a GSM handset, thus transferring a subscriber's J-Phone account info to a handset that would then work in a GSM market.>>.... <<J-Phone will make sure that the W-CDMA handsets used here can be used in Europe.>> And then there's this: wirelessweek.com ID=42&vertical=Global+Regions&industry=Asia+Pacific <<Through a tie-up with Qualcom Inc, the company will equip all of its 3G mobile phones with the US company's system chips, which will make the phones compatible with the current generation of cell phones. >> I think you were in a position to clarify some of this." ---------------------- Daniel Skuka replied by e-mail: There is no doubt that there is some conflicting information out there. My first report, posted at around 13:30JST on Thursday, was the one you saw (and pasted) below. A couple of hours later, my JP/VF PR contact called back and asked that his comments be clarified: How does dual mode technology figure into your 3G plans? "We've been saying we'll do global roaming with our 3G commercial service and this will be achieved in two ways specifically," says Matthew. One way is with so-called "plastic roaming" which is achieved by transferring a UIM/SIM card from a J-Phone W-CDMA handset to a GSM handset, thus transferring the subscriber's J-Phone account info to a handset that would then work in a GSM market. The other way is with dual mode technology handsets that will work under both W-CDMA and GSM network systems. He also adds that, at the time of their 3G commercial launch, J-Phone will have global roaming agreements in 50 countries. As I understand the plans, plastic roaming will appear first, and essentially allow a Japan-based J-P account holder to take their UIM card from their bought-in-Japan W-CDMA handset, slip it into a GSM handset in a market served by VF or served by a VF roaming partner operator, and obtain service. This will, I believe, happen in 2003. Later in 2003, VF/J-P will actually roll out a dual-chipset handset that is capable of GSM/W-CDMA roaming; this way the subscriber can actually use the same handset in Japan and also in a VF or VF-roaming-agreement market elsewhere. I believe that the news report you cite is consistent with J-P's revised comments to me, and corresponds to their second phase of roaming; i.e. the actual chip-level dual mode. I believe that we'll see them offering the plastic roaming first -- very soon after they open their 3G network in Japan (1Q 03? 2Q 03?). The chipset-level roaming will take substantially longer -- probably 3Q or 4Q 03. Thanks for watching WWJ! --Daniel ------------------------------ Daniel Scuka \| Editor in chief daniel@wirelesswatchjapan.com M +81 (0) 90-4000-8910 www.wirelesswatchjapan.com ------------------------------