3/39/2001 CeBIT update: NTT comes to Europe with 3G standard
Japanese mobile telephone provider NTT DoCoMo is set to target the European market with its 3G standard, Foma.
Speaking at the CeBIT trade Fair, Kyoji Murakami, NTT's senior manager, announced that Foma has been designed to handle next generation, high-speed mobile internet access, incorporating animation downloads, audio and video streaming.
The Japanese company is primarily intending to target European business customers and power users with the offering. It hopes to attract 150,000 customers by the end of the year and predicts six million users by March 2004.
NTT DoCoMo claims that network coverage throughout Europe should stand at 22 per cent by May, increasing to 97 per cent within three years.
Murakami blamed the slow development of WAP services in Europe on content volume, data transfer speeds and the lack of 'always-on' connections, saying that thanks to its Java and GPRS capabilities, Foma will buck the trend.
