OXFORD, England-Japan’s largest wireless operator, NTT DoCoMo, has allied itself closely with the GSM (Global System for Mobile communications) operator camp.
The company signed a cooperation agreement-covering technology developments for third-generation systems-at the GSM MoU Association’s 39th Plenary Meeting at the end of April in Warsaw. Although there are no GSM networks in Japan, NTT DoCoMo has committed itself to implement the European Telecommunications Standards Institute’s (ETSI’s) decision on the wideband air interface and support an evolved GSM platform as the core 3G technology.
The cooperation agreement coincides with the establishment of a formal relationship between standardization bodies in South Korea and the United States, encouraged by the rival cdmaOne faction. Japan’s standards body also is meeting intensively with the United States’ Telecommunications Industry Association to address harmonization issues. A mediator is certainly required. Despite public expressions of harmony between the cdmaOne and the GSM camps, the atmosphere behind the scenes has become increasingly acrimonious.
Japan’s manufacturing industry was bypassed by the success of GSM technology.
