IP: Japan's Third Generation Mobile Communication Handsets

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

I have not sent these reports for a while. The complete report is only distributed to Members. These rereports are 
often extremely useful and worth considering. djf


========================================================================
       ASIAN TECHNOLOGY INFORMATION PROGRAM (ATIP)

REPORT:  ATIP99.017 : Japan's Third Generation Mobile Communication Handsets
To: Distribution
From: reports () atip or jp
      This is file name "atip99.017" 
Date: 2 Mar 1999
ATIP99.017 : Japan's Third Generation Mobile Communication Handsets

ABSTRACT: This report summarizes the strategies of Japanese firms and
provides forecasts for third generation (W-CDMA) mobile phone activities
in Japan. While the initial applications for W-CDMA handsets will be
voice-centric, eventually, larger displays and keyboards will be needed
to effectively utilize both simple non-voice applications such as
message services, banking services, Internet mail, as well as more
complex applications such as people navigation services, WWW access, and
sales automation systems. The demands for these larger displays and
keyboards will mean that technologies for reducing weight will be very
important and competition along these lines will continue for many years
into the future for data-centered handsets.

KEYWORDS: Telecommunications/Internet
COUNTRY: Japan

=====================START OF REPORT ATIP99.017===========================

Copyright (c) 1998 by the Asian Technology Information Program (ATIP)
This material may not be published, modified or otherwise redistributed
in whole or part, in any form, without prior approval by ATIP, which
reserves all rights.

       Japan's Third Generation Mobile Communication Handsets
                  Strategies and Forecasts 
                       (ATIP/Japan)

CONTENTS

1.   INTRODUCTION
2.   EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
3.   FIRST GENERATION SERVICES
4.   SECOND GENERATION SERVICES
5.   MPT'S AND DOCOMO'S THIRD GENERATION STRATEGY
6.   FACTORS DRIVING EARLY IMPLEMENTATION OF W-CDMA BY NTT DOCOMO
7.   MULTI-MEDIA
7.1    Message Services
7.2    Internet Mail
7.3    Banking Services
7.4    Sales Automation Systems
7.5    Car Navigation Systems
7.6    People Navigation Systems
8.   MOBILE COMPUTING AND INTERNET ACCESS
9.   COMPETITION IN THIRD GENERATION HANDSETS
10.  COMPETITOR ANALYSIS

------------------------------------------------------------------

1.   INTRODUCTION

     Third generation mobile phone services will start in Japan in the
year 2001. NTT Docomo plans to start W-CDMA services in March 2001 in
Tokyo based on its W-CDMA (Wide Band Code Division Multiple Access)
standard.  Other carriers will start services at the same time as, or
soon after Docomo. A consortium of Japan Telecom, Air Touch, and Nissan
plan to start services in April 2001 while KDD and DDI/IDO have
announced they will start services in September, 2001 and December 2001
respectively.

     Docomo's desire to implement W-CDMA is driven primarily by
shortages of frequency. Docomo has already implemented half-rate PDC
(Personal Digital Cellular) and smaller cells as well as purchased
adjacent frequency space in order to increase the number of subscribers
that the PDC system can accommodate.  It also plans to introduce
dual-mode PHS (Personal Handyphone System) and PDC phones in April, 1999
in order to move some of its cellular traffic over to the fairly open
PHS frequencies. Nevertheless, in spite of these efforts, Docomo's
frequency space is expected to fill up during the early years of the
21st century.

     The decision by the European Technology Standards Institute (ETSI)
to adopt Docomo's technology as a major part of its third generation
standard gives Japanese manufacturers the opportunity to significantly
expand their share of the worldwide cellular phone business. Partly due
to the unique analog (NTT standard) and digital (PDC) standards
previously adopted by Japan, that country's firms have been forced to
develop different phones for their domestic and foreign markets and thus
have less than 20% of the worldwide cellular phone business. It now
appears that most carriers who now offer GSM services will adopt
Docomo's W-CDMA standard. Since GSM services are offered in more than
100 countries with more than 100 million subscribers (as compared to 12
million for IS95 CDMA) as of mid-1998, it is very likely that Docomo's
W-CDMA technology will become the defacto worldwide third generation
standard.

    NTT Docomo announced in April, 1997 that it had invited Ericsson,
Lucent, Fujitsu, NEC, and Matsushita to supply infrastructure and
Motorola, Nokia, NEC, Matsushita, Mitsubishi, Sharp, and Toshiba to
supply handsets for the experimental systems. For handsets, it is
generally argued that Matsushita, NEC, and Mitsubishi were chosen for
historical reasons, Sharp and Toshiba were chosen for their successful
handheld computers (Zaurus for Sharp and Libretto for Toshiba), and
Motorola and Nokia were chosen for political reasons. These firms are
now working with NTT Docomo in Yokosuka, Japan. The Japan Telecom
consortium is carrying out tests with equipment from NEC and Ericsson
(they also supplied Japan Telecom with PDC equipment).  The IDO/DDI are
carrying out tests with equipment from NEC and Motorola (its supplier of
IS95 CDMA equipment), Lucent, NEC, and Fujitsu. No announcements have
been made concerning handset suppliers. There are more than 15 suppliers
of PDC handsets and most of them are expected to enter Japan's third
generation market.

    This report summarizes the strategies of Japanese firms and provides
forecasts for the third generation (W-CDMA) mobile phone business and
applications, in Japan.

 ========================================================================
 [The remaining sections of this report are available to ATIP subscribers]

Tokyo Office:  Asian Technology Information Program (ATIP)
               Harks Roppongi Building 1F
               6-15-21 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo 106
               Tel: +81 3 5411-6670; Fax: +81 3 5411-6671

U.S. Office:   Asian Technology Information Program (ATIP)
               PO Box 9678
               Albuquerque, New Mexico 87119
               Tel: (505) 842-9020;  Fax: (505) 766-5166

For further information
    Send email to            : info () atip or jp
    Access WorldWideWeb Site : http://www.atip.or.jp/

ATIP: An autonomous US non-profit, that collaborates with other public,
private, and educational organizations, worldwide, to analyze and
disseminate information about Asian science and technology.
========================================================================
[Complete ATIP reports on Asian Science and Technology goes to subscribers
and collaborating organizations by direct distribution, or via electronic
access. These contain text and often, charts, graphs and pictures. Reports
for unrestricted distribution often contain summarized, or abstracted
information. Sponsors can also obtain specific follow up information -
including copies of proceedings, selected papers, exhibition particulars,
updates, translations, query searches, etc. Contact ATIP at
INFO () ATIP OR JP]

=====================END OF REPORT ATIP99.017a===========================
 [The remaining sections of this report are available to ATIP subscribers]