TOKYO-Japan Telecom said it plans to launch third-generation (3G) mobile service by October 2001, instead of its originally scheduled December 2001 date. J-Phone, the company’s wireless operator, hopes to better compete with NTT DoCoMo, the country’s dominant wireless carrier by moving forward the launch date. DoCoMo plans to begin 3G services in May 2001.
“We have applied for the 3G license with December of next year in mind, but of course, we would like to begin services as soon as possible,” said Haruo Murakami, Japan Telecom president.
J-Phone, which had a subscriber base of more than 8 million users at the end of March, offers the J-Sky wireless Internet service with more than 2 million subscribers. Japan Telecom owns 54 percent of J-Phone, Vodafone Group owns 26 percent and British Telecom holds 20 percent.
