3G ready to go, but in Japan only

Japanese mobile phone operator NTT DoCoMo has said it will press ahead with the world's first 3G phone services on 1 October despite poor trial results.

The firm has been running a limited version of Freedom of Mobile Multimedia Access (FOMA) for 4500 users since the end of May, but reports out of Japan say it has suffered from a raft of technical problems including unreliable connections, software bugs and the short battery life of handsets.

But DoCoMo insists that these problems have been solved and the service is ready to go in central Tokyo and select areas within 30 kilometres of the city centre. Coverage in other leading cities is due to follow in December.

Features include a 384Kb downlink, 64Kb uplink and 'landline' sound quality.

The basic service will provide the equivalent of £694 (120,000 yen) worth of data transmission free of charge, with a monthly subscription of around £45 (8000 yen), reports said.

Three handsets are expected to go sale to coincide with the launch, but are expected to be pricey at around £290 (50,000 yen).

DoCoMo said in May that it expects to sign up 150,000 users by March 2002, generating around £115m (20bn yen) in handset and services revenues.

European operators, who have invested over £100bn between them on 3G licences, will be watching keenly to see how customers react to the new generation of mobile services.

Analysts expect current handsets and services in Western Europe to generate higher revenues in total over the next five years than their 3G equivalents.