January 9, 2007
Japan's DoCoMo plans data speed upgrade
Japan's largest mobile phone carrier will upgrade its wireless network to make its data transmission hundreds of times faster, enabling subscribers to watch high-quality video just as they can over fiber-optic cables. The AP reports.
"NTT DoCoMo Inc. will begin testing the technology this year and could have the system deployed by 2010 at an esimtated cost of $1.7 billion.
DoCoMo is billing the system as Super 3G -- an upgrade to its existing third-generation "FOMA'' technology, which is derived from the globally dominant GSM wireless standard, though not identical to the 3G technology used by most GSM carriers, known as UMTS.
Super 3G will have speeds of roughly 100 megabits per second, making it about 260 times faster than DoCoMo's existing 3G service, which tops out at around 384 kilobits per second".
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