TOKYO-The Japanese government on 18 September granted J-Phone, a Vodafone company in Japan, a license for third-generation (3G) commercial service. Based on the governmental approval, J-Phone will launch its nationwide 3G services on 29 December.
NTT DoCoMo, the largest operator in Japan, launched 3G service called FOMA last October, and KDDI launched 3G service based on CDMA 1x technology in April. J-Phone will be the last to provide 3G service in Japan. J-Phone has been providing an experimental 3G service in the Tokyo metropolitan area since June.
J-Phone also said it will begin offering its J-Phone Online service nationwide next week, allowing customers to view and make changes to their accounts with their mobile phones. The carrier originally offered the service in March in select cities and has since rolled out the service to the rest of Japan.
