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

To: foundation who wrote (30891)	1/8/2003 8:57:39 AM
From: foundation	Respond to of 196461

DoCoMo Scales Back 3G Investment (08/01/2003, BWCS Staff) The chief executive of NTT DoCoMo has indicated that the company will cap investments in its 3G network due to the service’s poor take-up rates. In an interview with Bloomberg Keiji Tachikawa said that DoCoMo would not purse a ‘reckless’ investment strategy but will instead concentrate on improving ROI. In the financial year ending March 31 2003 DoCoMo is expected to have invested Yen891billion in expanding its mobile networks. This figure is expected to be slightly lower for the coming financial year. While it remains unclear exactly what effect the cut in investment will have on DoCoMo’s previously announced coverage targets for the FOMA service it seems likely that these will be pushed back. Lack of coverage has been cited by Japanese consumers as one of the weaknesses of the FOMA service with others including a lack of dual mode handsets, the high cost of handsets and services and the size and poor battery life of the W-CDMA devices. Last month DoCoMo announced the availability of three new FOMA handsets that are lighter than existing models and have three times the battery life of their forerunners. However in a move that has typified FOMA’s faltering development the launch of all three handsets has now been delayed while software glitches are rectified. FOMA had 149,000 customers by 30 November 2002 and is adding around 6,500 customers per month. Meanwhile the 3G experience at rival operator KDDI has been in stark contrast to FOMA’s stuttering performance. Since its launch last April KDDI’s cdma2000 1X service has signed up in excess of four million subscribers and is adding 600,000 customers per month. Last month Japan’s third operator J-Phone launched its 3G service but, acknowledging the problems faced by DoCoMo’s W-CDMA service, it has played down its short-term prospects. bwcs.com ========== LOL! If lack of coverage was the real problem, wouldn't DoCoMo be speeding up CAPEX? Are cell station amplifiers so inefficient that coverage is impractical? See also how DoCoMo puts FOMA in the closet Message 18368905 How long till Hutchison's Li cuts his losses?

To: foundation who wrote (30891)	1/8/2003 4:56:48 PM
From: Art Bechhoefer	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 196461

It's clear that the main reason for the Chinese government pushing TD-SCDMA is to create a standard that will help Chinese companies serve the Chinese market. Even if TD-SCDMA is inferior to CDMA2000, it offers Chinese companies a near monopoly in equipment sales (including cooperating companies like Siemens). In a market as large as China, they can do things that would look irrational in smaller markets. As long as QUALCOMM can receive some royalties from TD-SCDMA, the outcome should be satisfactory. However, if CDMA2000 proves to be a lower cost standard, then one would think that competition would eventually prevail, unless the Chinese government provides some sort of economic advantage to TD-SCDMA, including more spectrum. Art