Worldwide rollout of next-generation wireless services went 2 for 1 last week as both Japanese operator NTT DoCoMo and U.K.-based Vodafone Group plc introduced handsets for high-speed data services, while Finnish operator Sonera said it was delaying its rollout due to a lack of handsets.
DoCoMo’s introduction amounted to an unofficial Japanese lottery as 4,500 lucky souls were “awarded” the carrier’s latest mobile phones equipped for third-generation services as part of the carriers introductory phase of its FOMA service. The Japanese wireless company had originally planned a full launch of its 3G services for the end of May, but recently pushed the launch date back until Oct. 1.
DoCoMo data
DoCoMo initially said it would distribute 4,000 handsets for the trial, but raised the figure after receiving more than 147,000 requests from customers to participate. Those selected will be required to answer questionnaires about the service and offer comments and suggestions regarding possible improvements. While they will not be charged for basic service on the devices, participants will be billed for any transmission charges they incur.
Of the 4,500 handsets distributed, 2,500 were issued to corporate monitors, with the remaining 2,000 going to individual customers. The handsets include 1,400 standard phones, which are an upgraded version of the current i-mode cellular phone, 1,200 “visual” phones equipped with a video screen and 1,900 “data-card” phones for dedicated mobile high-speed data transmission.
While the standard and data-card handsets were delivered last week, the delivery of the visual handsets is expected to be delayed by about a month due to last-minute debugging of embedded software undergoing final re-testing.
Of the 147,000 applicants it received for the trial, DoCoMo said approximately 104,000 were from individual mobile-phone users, with the remaining 43,000 coming from companies. Male applicants made up more than three-fourths of the total individual applicants, with 80 percent less than 40 years old.
While the visual phone will be the last model to be distributed, 60 percent of applicants requested that model for the trial. Less than a third were interested in the standard model, with only 10 percent requesting the data-card model.
However, glitches in the service’s e-mail system kept messages from reaching their intended targets last Thursday night. DoCoMo said the problem, which occurred in a server near Tokyo, was fixed by noon the next day.
Vodafone highlights
Vodafone’s launch extended its GPRS service for business customers, introduced in April, to include WAP services over GPRS. As part of the launch, Vodafone began selling Motorola Inc.’s Timeport 260 GPRS handset for $142, half of what rival BT CellNet charges for the same handset.
Vodafone said the WAP over GPRS service allows users to connect to the mobile Internet via WAP more quickly than before, and also make and receive voice calls during WAP sessions.
“What we are now offering is the ability to access information over WAP, so that no matter where you are you can get business news, stock market information, travel information and even weather updates,” said Paul Donovan, managing director of commercial services for Vodafone. “Business customers can now make use of every minute and will no longer have to endure dead time on trains or waiting for meetings.”
Vodafone also announced two pricing plans for its GPRS service. The high-end plan runs $10.60 per month and includes 1 megabyte of data transfers, equaling between 500 and 1000 WAP pages, with each additional 1 MB of data costing $7. The second plan is geared to less data-centric users and runs $5.65 per month and 3 cents for each kilobyte of data downloaded or sent.
While the Motorola handset is the only GPRS model available today, Vodafone said it plans to introduce additional handsets and personal digital assistance in the next several months.
Sonera stall
With Japan and the United Kingdom moving forward with next-generation wireless services, Finnish carrier Sonera put its plans on hold, citing the lack of sufficient handsets available to consumers. The carrier had planned to launch higher-speed services early next-year, as mandated by the government, but has had to cancel some of its investments in 3G technology because handset manufacturers were not ready to mass-produce handsets on time.
