NTT DoCoMo to Invest 640 Bln Yen for 3G Service

NTT DoCoMo Inc plans to invest about 640 bln yen for its third generation (3G) mobile phone FOMA service by the end of the year to March 2007, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported, citing the company president Masao Nakamura.

The move is aimed at helping the firm catch up with KDDI Corp, the current leader of 3G phone services, the business daily said.

The investment will enable the firm to boost the number of its cell stations by 50 pct to more than 44,000 and it is eyeing a 150 pct increase in subscribers for its FOMA service to 35 mln, the Nikkei said.

In October 2001, NTT DoCoMo succeeded in launching FOMA — the world’s first fully commercialized third generation mobile service. Based upon IMT-2000-compliant W-CDMA, FOMA supports high-volume, high-speed transmission to enable an exciting new range of services such as videophone and videomail.

Since the launch of the service, coverage has been extended to almost 100% of the Japanese population, and the release of new terminals with higher level functionality continues to attract ever more subscribers. Put simply, the era of 3G has arrived. [3G!]

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