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WAP Insight Vol: 4 Issue 136 October 21st 2002NTT DoCoMo successfully tests 4G
The last figures the company released in August give NTT
DoCoMo' a mere 134,000 FOMA (3G) users and a rumoured coverage of around 60 per
cent of the country. Yet the company recently announced that it has successfully
tested a 4G outdoor connection which will provide 100Mbit/s for receiving and
20Mbit/s for sending. Interesting both channels use different technology. It's
variable spreading factor orthogonal frequency code division
multiplexing(VSF-OFCDM) for the down link, and multi-carrier direct spread code
division multiple access (DS-CDMA) for the upstream link. The catch is that this
4G technology is also pretty bandwidth hungry requiring a 100 MHz spread.
Nonetheless, the Japanese government in the shape of its
Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications
(MPHPT) is hoping to get 4G off the ground by 2005 and attempt to roll it out
commercially in 2010. Given how these things slip we're probably talking 2013.
The Japanese are also hoping that DoCoMo's technology might form the basis for
an ITU (International Telecommunications Union) standard for 4G which will be
the follow-up to IMT 2000 (better known as 3G). Nokia handset sales blossomAgainst the overall gloom in the telecoms industry, market leader Nokia has
announced that handset sales were up during Q3 2002. Indeed its handset division
did so well that overall sales were up two per cent and its operating profit
increased by 14 per cent. Consequently Nokia is sticking to its forecast of a
global handset market total of 400 million units, roughly three quarters of
which will be GSM handsets. The company saw its own handset sales rise by 17 per
cent to 37 million units which is higher than the overall trend for the quarter
which is estimated to have increased by about 13 per cent to around 103 million
units. Nokia hinted that its market share will probably rise as a result. The
intriguing thing is its statement concerning 3G growth. Having gained type
approval for its dual GSM/W-CDMA handset, the company will now start supplying
handsets to network operators so they can commence testing in earnest. However,
it also states that it will start to earn revenues from 3G - "assuming that
the required technology milestones are met." Reading between the lines that
means some technical issues still have to be ironed out with W-CDMA.
Additionally Nokia claims to have shipped EDGE-capable GSM network equipment to
23 operators across all GSM frequencies in all continents. In other words, Nokia
doesn't view EDGE (a 3G upgrade for existing GSM networks) as being dead like
many industry observers appear to. Other good news is that MMS/fototext seems to
have given the necessary fillip to replacement handset sales, a sector which has
been performing badly recently. No IM phone client for new Reuters service?In an apparent attempt to play catch-up, Reuters – the
financial information publishers – has decided to provide its customers with
an instant messaging (IM) facility. The victorious supplier is none other than
Microsoft itself. Hence Reuters
Messaging is based on MSN Messenger or more accurately on Microsoft's
implementation of SIP (Session Initiation Protocol). Considering most of the
intended customers belong to banks or similar financial institutions the service
employs heavy-duty RC4 128/128-bit cipher encryption and there is an option to
create an activity log to meet the requirements of some financial exchanges.
Microsoft is hoping to get another bite of the cherry since Reuters is happy to
suggest that companies considering enabling more than 200 users should consider
installing a Microsoft Real Time Communications (RTC) proxy server alongside
your First 3G handset recalled by DoCoMoSomewhat unfortunately for NTT DoCoMo, it has become the first operator to recall a 3G handset - the T2101V from Toshiba. Having discovered that some T2101V handsets suffer from a software glitch, the operator has been forced to recall all of them - luckily only 1,640 units have gone out so far. It's a shame since the T2101V's stand-by time is a claimed 125 hours - the longest of any DoCoMo 3G (FOMA) phone. A 'remote sensing' feature enables the T2101V to turn on automatically in videophone mode when calls are received from up to 20 user-designated phone numbers of other video-equipped mobile phones. However, when the screen is in the energy-saving mode, the phone sometimes stops receiving incoming phone calls, including videophone ones. Users can avoid this glitch by disabling the energy-saving feature which extends battery time by switching to a screen that has fewer graphics. The handset is compatible with DoCoMo's 3G videostreaming facility - i-motion - and can be set to save up to four 15-second or two 30-second video messages from incoming calls. These clips are stored directly in the handset itself so don't require the user to 'dialback' a server to access them. Sales of the model have been suspended until the problem is fixed, after which the handsets will be replaced free of charge.www.nttdocomo.com Ericsson likes 3G, dislikes handsetsFollowing Nokia's announcements, Ericsson's own estimate for global handset sales in 2002 is 390 million, a mere 10 million behind Nokia's figure. Both agree that handset sales are picking up with Q3 sales around 100 million, while Q2 sales were around 92 million. That's good news, because Ericsson had previously predicted Q2 sales of 85 million units. Where Ericsson appears strongest is in the field of 3G, where sales of its GSM/W-CDMA infrastructure equipment rose by 2 per cent, increasing its position as market leader. Had it not been for cancelled 3G sales in Germany, Ericsson would have done even better. The company's problem is that its joint handset venture, Sony Ericsson, isn't cutting the mustard in terms of sales. Although its dinky T68i handset and camera attachment are going well, sales of mid-tier and entry-level handsets are only just starting to happen. Consequently, the operation made a loss which is worrying given CEO Kurt Hellstrom's past remarks, WAP Insight 132, hinting that his company wasn't prepared to fund losses forever. Funnily enough, the same sentiments don't seem to apply to Ericsson's association with Bluetooth which it describes as both "promising" and "not yet profitable". Ericsson's viewpoint appears to be that it's a funny old world out there, as far as mobile phones are concerned. As it says, "the market remains unpredictable."SnippetsPhew! Marconi has at last landed a 3G contract. It will supply the German arm of mmO2 with its Digital Radio System (MDRS), a point-to-point microwave radio technology. This will carry traffic from 02’s NodeB base stations to its backbone network. The contract also includes Marconi’s Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH) equipment rather than any fancy IP stuff. Hmm. www.marconi.com ...NTT DoCoMo continues with the export of its i-mode technology which has just opened for business in Belgium today courtesy of Base (part of the Dutch KPN Group). The service has 49 sites which can be viewed in Dutch, French and English but still only one compatible handset courtesy of NEC. No mention of Toshiba's GPRS/i-mode handset yet. www.nttdocomo.com In Site of the Week (By Geoff Dennis)This week... ezeWAPWith interest in WAP rekindled by GPRS, the difficulty in finding useful sites beyond those available through your network operator still remains. EzeWAP beats this by providing links to the best around. Key in their URL and then you have links to a range of sites within 10 categories, from business through sport to shopping. Whilst UK-focussed, it includes some international sites (e.g. Bloomberg) and obviously has taste since WAP Insight is listed in their WAP section. If you're going to provide a directory of WAP sites then, as Mr Punch would say, "that's the way to do it!" http://www.ezewap.clara.net/index.wml |
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