TOKYO—KDDI, the second-largest operator in Japan, is going to postpone its third-generation (3G) service launch from the original plan of this quarter to April 2002 due to delays in software development, KDDI announced. Instead, KDDI will provide 64 kilobits per second (kbps) services until April.
KDDI said there will not be a negative impact on the firm’s business from the delay. KDDI initially planned to launch its 3G service based on cdmaOne 1x technology, an evolved technology based on the current cdmaOne system.
KDDI said development of software for cdmaOne 1x has been delayed due to its complexity, and from December 2001 to April 2002, the carrier will provide several new services, such as motion picture distribution services and a global positioning system (GPS)-based location service using its 64 kbps networks.
Tadashi Onodera, president of KDDI, said he believes most of the carrier’s mobile users will be satisfied with KDDI’s 64 kbps services, but for specific users who need much faster speeds, KDDI will provide 144 kbps. For motion picture distribution services, one of the killer applications for 3G services, KDDI will launch 20 different offerings, such as new film promotion videos and news, to its mobile-phone users in December. Each content lasts about 15 seconds.
