Japan’s Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications plans to adopt both W-CDMA and cdma2000 technologies for next-generation mobile-phone systems.
The ministry said it will make its decisions regarding 3G technology based on the recommendation of the Telecommunications Technology Council, an advisory committee to the ministry.
Japan is pushing to be the first in the world to deploy 3G mobile systems, with the country’s largest operator, NTT DoCoMo, set to offer wideband Code Division Multiple Access technology by March 2001. The TTC was supposed to make its recommendations in August, but delayed them as it waited for standardization specifications from the 3G Partnership Project 2, a North American standards body spearheaded by the U.S. Telecommunications Industry Association, which is developing cdma2000 specifications.
The TTC also was struggling to resolve interference problems 3G equipment has posed to Personal Handyphone System control channels in early tests of the technology. The PHS band lies directly below frequency reserved for 3G services.
TTC’s report calls for stricter spurious emission restrictions, antenna power limitations of mobile terminals and appropriate guardband settings to avoid interference problems.
The MPT originally planned to push ahead with W-CDMA technology as the chosen 3G standard, but industry consensus reached in recent months now includes a tri-mode CDMA-based standard that encompasses both Interim Standard-95-based cdma2000 and W-CDMA technology.
In related news, NTT DoCoMo said it plans to set up U.S. operations in California’s Silicon Valley in early November to promote globalization of W-CDMA technology and strengthen the company’s Internet-related technologies.
Wireless music
NTT DoCoMo, one of the largest cellular operators in the world with more than 20 million customers, also said it will begin testing its new mobile media distribution service for musical content. It will test the service on its PHS 64-kilobit-per-second data communications network.
The carrier recently signed agreements with Matsushita Communication Industrial Co. Ltd., which will form a joint venture with NTT DoCoMo to conduct field trials of the MMD service. NTT DoCoMo also will test MMD service with Sony Corp. and IBM Corp.
The MMD service will allow users to gain access to songs, concert schedules and other music-related information anywhere and at any time by downloading them from record companies, music publishing houses and other content holders. Content holders also can use the service for marketing and promotional services, said NTT DoCoMo. Tests will begin in April.
NTT DoCoMo wants to study the possibility of extending MMD service to W-CDMA technology.
