Japan Gives Green Light to LTE

The Japanese communications ministry has given the green light to business plans for 4G / LTE services presented by the Japanese mobile phone operators NTT Docomo, KDDI, Softbank Mobile and Emobile.

Each of the four mobile operators have set aside between JPY 207 and JPY 515 to realise their plans and will launch 4G in Japan between September 2010 and late 2012.

Japan Gets Ready for “3.9G”

Japan’s four major mobile operators will spend more than JPY 1 trillion over the next five years on fourth generation networks.

The 4G networks, known as 3.9G in Japan, will use LTE technology.

Spectrum and network applications are due with the Japanese communications minstry on May 7, with awards to be announced in the Summer.

NTT DoCoMo plans to launch a 3.9G service in 2010, while Softbank Mobile is expected to launch its 3.9G service in 2011 or 2012.

Emobile and KDDI are likely to launch in 2011 and 2012 respectively.