Japan Telecom delays 3G rollout
By Staff and wire reports
TOKYO, Japan -- Japan Telecom has further dulled the hype over third-generation mobile technology, delaying its launch of 3G services until late 2002.
The third-ranked Japanese telco company and its wireless offshoot, J-Phone, said they had delayed their rollout of 3G in order to conform to the Third Generation Partnership Project -- an industry-based set of standards.
The delay comes a day after Singapore telecommunications regulators pushed back the impending auction of third-generation (3G) wireless spectrum, and a week after South Korea's SK Telecom reportedly warned it would push back its 3G launch.
Japan Telecom and J-Phone had earlier hoped to launch 3G services, which allow high-speed Internet surfing via mobile devices, by the end of 2001. They hoped to follow Japan's largest wireless carrier, NTT DoCoMo, by about six months.
DoCoMo says it will launch 3G services some time in May, making it the first carrier in the world to launch a full commercial service using the much-vaunted technology.
"There is no change to our 3G schedule," a spokesman said Tuesday.
'Very unfortunate'
"It's very unfortunate that we will not be able to better serve our customers," said Japan Telecom president Harua Murakami.
He said the reason for the delay also had to do with securing coverage area, and not the high cost of deployment.
Despite the news, shares of Japan Telecom ended the day 2.13 percent higher at ¥1.92 million, having peaked at a 3 percent gain earlier in the day. It failed to keep pace with the broader Nikkei average, which booked a 2.69 percent rise.
J-Phone owns about 16.3 percent of the Japanese wireless market, but analysts said the negative impact of the delay on J-Phone would be restricted by the limited number of converts DoCoMo is expected to win in its first year offering 3G services.
British wireless giant Vodafone Group Plc recently upped its stake in Japan Telecom from 15 percent to 25 percent, beating British Telecom to the deal. BT also is a key stakeholder in Japan Telecom.
The announcement is the latest in a line of setbacks suffered by wannabe purveyors of 3G in Asia.
Japan Telecom not alone
Korea's SK Telecom went on the defensive after one of its executives was reported pouring cold water over rolling out 3G services by May next year, telling a conference in Tokyo it would delay it until at least 2003.
The second-ranked South Korean wireless carrier later denied it had delayed its 3G rollout, suggesting the executive had been misunderstood.
That incident followed a warning by U.S.-based Qualcomm, which developed the Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) platform on which 3G services operate, that it would be years before 3G services became commonplace in Asia.
Meanwhile, Singapore authorities say the two-day auction of 3G spectrum will either begin Wednesday or Thursday following a delay for unspecified reasons. Singapore has already delayed its 3G spectrum auction once, from February to April.
Local operators Singapore Telecommunications, StarHub and MobileOne will bid for the spectrum, as well as Hong Kong rival Sunday Communications.
Reuters contributed to this report.
RELATED SITES:
J-PHONE.com
JAPAN TELECOM Homepage
NTT DoCoMo Net
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