Japanese Firms Demonstrate W-CDMA Mobile Devices

Computergram International, May 24, 1999

Wireless device prototypes demonstrated at the Business Show '99 show in Tokyo this week show how serious Japanese companies are about getting behind W-CDMA broadband mobile networks. NTT DoCoMo (NTT Mobile Communications Network Inc) is piloting the digital broadband technology in Japan and hopes to introduce the first networks in March 2001. NTT DoCoMo, NEC Corp, Sharp Corp and Matsushita Communication Industrial Co Ltd were all demonstrating personal digital assistants and other devices featuring W-CDMA technology.

Broadband network technology means that even mobile phone-sized devices can transmit and receive video pictures, using MPEG4 compression. NTT DoCoMo was demonstrating a phone with a built-in camera that could download pictures, with a maximum data transmission speed of 64kbps. NEC had a notebook with a built-in telephone and W-CDMA data converter. Sharp introduced a handheld with W-CDMA features.