April 3 DoCoMo Chairman Urges Quicker 4G Mobile Development
By Michael Connor
MIAMI BEACH, Fla. (Reuters) - The chairman of NTT DoCoMo (news - web sites) Inc. (9437.T) on Tuesday said Japan's biggest mobile phone group would roll out high-speed, 3G services on time and wanted to step up development of even more advanced services.
DoCoMo Chairman Kouji Ohboshi told a forum sponsored by consultancy Accenture that DoCoMo was going ahead as scheduled with its third generation, or 3G, mobile services next month, even as the industry grapples with technical glitches.
Ohboshi also said DoCoMo, which is well known for its popular i-mode mobile Internet access service in Japan, wanted to develop even faster, richer services called fourth generation, or 4G, services, much sooner than the current target of 2010.
``In my personal view, I would like to introduce fourth generation about 2007,'' the chairman said in a speech, adding that data deliveries in 4G would be much faster and richer than the 3G services that have yet to hit markets.
3G mobile services have so far proven elusive for the world's big mobile telecoms groups, which have paid tens of billions of dollars to governments for licenses to airwaves spectrum in hopes of selling text messaging, phone shopping and other advanced wireless services. But disputes over spectrum allocations in the United States and worries that equipment manufacturers may not be able to quickly provide the needed technology have slowed the introduction of promised 3G services, such as CD-quality digital music deliveries.
Some analysts have warned that technology glitches may delay worldwide 3G offerings for three years.
Last month, Japan Telecom (9434.T), a leading rival of NTT DoCoMo, said it was pushing back by six months to July 2002 its first 3G services, partly because more testing was required.
Investors, skeptical about 3G, have knocked 60 percent off the value of European wireless companies in the past year amid fears that the companies wildly overspent on spectrum whose potential has not been fully tapped.
Some analysts have said alternative wireless devices now available, such as personal digital assistants and laptop computers linked to local area networks, may blunt the appeal of 3G by offering wireless Internet access.
DoCoMo, a spinoff of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (9432.T) which now accounts for more than 50 percent of Japan's mobile telephone market, has spent $15.5 billion investing in overseas companies, such as the U.S.'s AT&T Wireless (NYSE:AWE - news), with an eye to claiming worldwide leadership in 3G services.
