KDDI Announces Successful Completion of cdma2000 1xEV-DO Trial with QUALCOMM, Hitachi, Sony and Kyocera

Business Wire, March 20, 2001

Business Editors & High-Tech Writers

CTIA Wireless 2001, Booth No. 3647

LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 20, 2001

KDDI (DDI Corporation), one of Japan's leading mobile telecommunications operators, and QUALCOMM Incorporated (Nasdaq: QCOM), pioneer and world leader of Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) digital wireless technology, today announced the successful completion of a third-generation (3G) cdma2000 1xEV-DO trial in cooperation with Hitachi, Sony and Kyocera. The trial was conducted between July 2000 and February 2001 in the urban area of Tokyo. In compliance with QUALCOMM's High Data Rate (HDR) specification, which forms the basis of the cdma2000 1xEV-DO standard, the trial enabled applications such as streaming video, Web browsing and e-mail to run at data transmission speeds of up to 2.4 Megabits per second (Mbps).

KDDI, QUALCOMM, Hitachi, Sony and Kyocera performed the tests in the Japanese 800 MHz cellular band using QUALCOMM and Hitachi wireless CDMA network equipment. To provide mobility testing, two cell sites were used with four total sectors and 30 wireless modem units. Items tested in this trial included call processing, hand-off, and physical layer and application layer throughput measurements.

KDDI will continue the trial by expanding the number of cell sites and sectors and plans to include the motorway environments by moving the trial site to the suburban area of Tokyo. KDDI is actively considering the commercial launch of cdma2000 1xEV-DO.

"The capabilities of cdma2000 1xEV-DO technology exceeded our expectations for a high-speed wireless access system," said Tadashi Onodera, KDDI executive vice president. "The performance of the system we have been testing is encouraging us to step forward toward the commercialization of a cdma2000 1xEV-DO system. We see a strong market for mobile wireless data and will be able to meet this demand with 1xEV-DO."

"The demand for wireless data services is increasing dramatically and we are pleased to expand our infrastructure product line to support cdma2000 1xEV-DO technology," said Yasuo Katou, senior vice president, general manager of CDMA business operation for Hitachi Ltd. "Since cdma2000 1xEV-DO has minimal cell site upgrades, it can be deployed rapidly and cost effectively, enabling the demand for high-speed wireless access to be fulfilled sooner."

"Based on the results from this trial, we will be enhancing our existing CDMA handset line with QUALCOMM's MSM5500 dual-mode cdma2000 1x/1xEV-DO integrated circuit," said Yukio Fukumura, general manager YOKOHAMA R&D center of Kyocera. "This solution enables truly high-speed wireless Internet access."

"Having participated in the trial, we believe cdma2000 1xEV-DO is a promising technology to achieve high-speed wireless telecommunications required in the broadband network age," said Hiroya Usui, general manager, product design department, DTC/PNC, Sony Corporation.

"cdma2000 1xEV-DO enables high-speed Internet access using standard Internet protocols, allowing an 'always on' experience with secure connections and transmissions," said Jeff Jacobs, senior vice president of business development for QUALCOMM. "We are very pleased with the results yielded from this trial and the strong acceptance of cdma2000 1xEV-DO technology by our partners in the trial."

cdma2000 1xEV-DO, provides the highest spectral efficiency of any mobile, wireless wide-area network in existence today, supporting peak data rates up to 2.4 Mbps in a standard 1.25 MHz frequency channel. Optimized for the Internet, cdma2000 1xEV-DO incorporates a flexible architecture based on standard Internet Protocols (IP). cdma2000 1xEV-DO offers third-generation data services and supports e-mail, web browsing, mobile e-commerce, telematics and many other applications, extending fast, always-on Internet access to untethered users. cdma2000 1xEV-DO is compatible with cdmaOne(TM) and cdma2000 networks, thus leveraging existing product designs and enabling service providers to obtain higher capacities and superior performance by optimizing voice and data spectrum separately.

KDDI (DDI Corporation, www.kddi.com) is one of Japan's leading mobile telecommunications operators, providing customers with superior voice, WAP and data access rates of up to 64 kbps by the cdmaOne network, and is leading the world's mobile data market. "au," the nationwide branded name for the KDDI group's cellular phone service, currently had 10.7 million subscribers at the end of February.

Hitachi, Ltd., headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is one of the world's leading global electronics companies, with fiscal 1999 (ended March 31, 2000) consolidated sales of 8,001 billion yen ($75.5 billion). The company manufactures and markets a wide range of products, including computers, semiconductors, consumer products and power and industrial equipment. For more information on Hitachi, Ltd., please visit Hitachi's Web site at: www.hitachi.co.jp.

Kyocera Corporation (http://www.kyocera.co.jp/), the parent and global headquarters of the Kyocera Group, was founded in 1959 as a producer of advanced ceramics. By combining these engineered materials with metals and plastics, and integrating them with other technologies, Kyocera has become a leading supplier of telecommunications equipment, semiconductor packages, electronic components, cameras, laser printers, copiers, solar energy systems and industrial ceramics. During the year ended March 31, 2000, Kyocera Corporation's consolidated net sales totaled 812 billion yen (US$7.9 billion) with net income of 50 billion yen (US$489 million). Kyocera Corporation has been recognized by IndustryWeek magazine as one of "The World's 100 Best-Managed Companies."