Daily Archives: 14 October, 2010
Tata DoCoMo’s 3G service by Diwali
NEW DELHI: Tata DoCoMO is the first private mobile service provider to announce the date for launching the much anticipated third-generation (3G) mobile services.
The company aims to get a head-start and plans to introduce high-end services such as ultra-fast internet, videoconferencing and other 3G services by Diwali (November 5th 2010), its executive president, mobility business division, Deepak Gulati told ET.
“Japan’s NTTDoCoMo has provided technical inputs to make our 3G network world-class. Progressively, NTT will bring various 3G products and services that it offers in Japan — such as i-modeTM, location based services and mobile payment — and give our customers a flavor of tomorrow,” Mr Gulati added.
The nine circles where Tatas will launch 3G services include Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh (West), Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. Other leading operators such as Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications, Vodafone Essar are also slated to introduce 3G services by the year-end. But, these companies are yet to announce the dates.
Mr Gulati declined to comment on 3G tariffs, but said that the pricing would be consumer friendly. The Tatas, who were a late entrant into the country’s mobile space, have maintained that 3G will reset the communications space as it would, for the first time, see all telcos launching operations at about the same time. “We want to be the first of the block and show the superiority of DoCoMo’s technology,” he added.
3G LTE Gains Momentum
The cellular infrastructure world is buzzing as LTE gains momentum to bring wireless customers one step closer to a viable 4G mobile network. According to new research from International Data Corporation (IDC), more than a dozen new networks are poised to go live this year, and spending on
LTE will exceed WiMAX equipment spending by the end of 2011.
Worldwide LTE infrastructure revenues will fall just below $8 billion by 2014.
The commitment level to LTE is high with more than 100 operators publicly supporting it, including nine of the ten largest mobile operators worldwide. “The world is coalescing around the LTE standard as a result of its promise to increase speed and capacity to address the exploding growth in mobile data traffic,” said Godfrey Chua, research manager, Wireless and Mobile Infrastructure. “LTE is an important part of the portfolio of technology solutions that will enable mobile operators to cost-effectively deliver more innovative and robust data applications and services over the mobile network.”
