NTT DOCOMO Launches 37.5 Mbps LTE
NTT DOCOMO has launched Japan’s first LTE (Long Term Evolution) mobile service, available initially in major urban markets. At launch, the service covers the major urban centers of Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka, with plans to reach 70 percent of the Japanese population by March 2015. The new service will launch in “PC-only” mode, starting with an LTE data service for PC users. DOCOMO plans to introduce LTE-compatible handsets, including voice service over the FOMA network, by March 2012.
In most outdoor areas, transmission speeds are up to 37.5 Mbps for the downlink and 12.5 Mbps for the uplink, but in heavily used indoor areas, such as the terminals at Tokyo International Airport, customers can enjoy up to 75 Mbps for the downlink, approximately 10 times faster than DOCOMO’s current 3G service with HSPA. LTE also averages about three times more data in the downlink and two to three times more in the uplink, and transmission latency is just one-fourth that of HSPA.
As always is the hope when a next-generation mobile network is launched, there are hopes that new revenue sources can be created, and that is no different with LTE. “The new LTE network enables DOCOMO to deliver all-new services and mobile experiences to customers, while also creating important new sources of data revenue for the company,” DOCOMO says. Exactly what those new services might be is not so clear, as new revenue sources were likewise unclear when 3G networks launched.
But “low latency” and cloud-based mobile services are expected to become a major growth area for DOCOMO. Video communications is expected to be an important new application, though.
Augmented-reality mobile services may someday revolutionize the way people approach daily activities such as shopping and education, DOCOMO believes.
With the many-fold increase in data capacity, the company believes LTE services will help to push data revenue well beyond voice revenue. The shift will be especially important to DOCOMO as it expands its non-voice services.
In truth, it took quite some time for “killer” 3G apps to emerge. In fact, one might argue that not until recently, with the emergence of the smartphone, and its support of mobile Web access and applications, plus mobile connections for PCs, did a serious new revenue stream appear.
Still, it si noteworthy that “low latency” applications are believed to be among the apps with most potential for new revenue.
http://www.nttdocomo.com/features/mobility31/index.html
NTT DOCOMO has launched Japan’s first LTE (Long Term Evolution) mobile service, available initially in major urban markets. At launch, the service covers the major urban centers of Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka, with plans to reach 70 percent of the Japanese population by March 2015. The new service will launch in “PC-only” mode, starting with an LTE data service for PC users. DOCOMO plans to introduce LTE-compatible handsets, including voice service over the FOMA network, by March 2012.
In most outdoor areas, transmission speeds are up to 37.5 Mbps for the downlink and 12.5 Mbps for the uplink, but in heavily used indoor areas, such as the terminals at Tokyo International Airport, customers can enjoy up to 75 Mbps for the downlink, approximately 10 times faster than DOCOMO’s current 3G service with HSPA. LTE also averages about three times more data in the downlink and two to three times more in the uplink, and transmission latency is just one-fourth that of HSPA.
As always is the hope when a next-generation mobile network is launched, there are hopes that new revenue sources can be created, and that is no different with LTE. “The new LTE network enables DOCOMO to deliver all-new services and mobile experiences to customers, while also creating important new sources of data revenue for the company,” DOCOMO says. Exactly what those new services might be is not so clear, as new revenue sources were likewise unclear when 3G networks launched.
But “low latency” and cloud-based mobile services are expected to become a major growth area for DOCOMO. Video communications is expected to be an important new application, though.
Augmented-reality mobile services may someday revolutionize the way people approach daily activities such as shopping and education, DOCOMO believes.
With the many-fold increase in data capacity, the company believes LTE services will help to push data revenue well beyond voice revenue. The shift will be especially important to DOCOMO as it expands its non-voice services.
In truth, it took quite some time for “killer” 3G apps to emerge. In fact, one might argue that not until recently, with the emergence of the smartphone, and its support of mobile Web access and applications, plus mobile connections for PCs, did a serious new revenue stream appear.
Still, it is noteworthy that “low latency” applications are believed to be among the apps with most potential for new revenue.
http://www.nttdocomo.com/features/mobility31/index.html
