Telecommunications

May 2004

The government is planning to urge industries to unify standards for mobile phones and other communications and information devices to make them easier for elderly and disabled people to use. The Public Management Ministry has set numerical standards for such features as font size, the pressure required to push buttons and the length of tones in its draft guidelines for telecommunications companies. Each device maker currently adopts different standards and the machines are not equipped with sufficient functions to meet the needs of the disabled and elderly. A ministry panel is scheduled to release the guidelines at the beginning of June. The government plans to include them in Japanese Industrial Standards in the next business year and to urge the International Telecommunication Union to adopt them as global standards. The guidelines call for functions such as amplifying telephone sounds for those with hearing problems and embossing push buttons for the blind. They also call on manufacturers to develop devices to convert e-mail into voice sounds for blind users. (May 30, Kyodo News, the Daily Yomiuri)

The Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications (MPHPT) said its Telecommunications Council reported to it on policies to improve the sophistication of third-generation mobile telecommunication systems (3G).
The council's report is to set forth the introduction of "high-speed downlink packet access (HSDPA)," for which NTT DoCoMo Inc plans to initiate a service based on the technology as early as the beginning of 2005. It also defines technological requirements for 3G in the 800MHz frequency band. The introduction of HSDPA will drastically accelerate data transmission of W-CDMA from the current maximum speed of 2Mbps to 14Mbps, enabling the drive-by speed to be between 2Mbps and 8Mbps. The current report of the council consists of three parts: (1) addition of technology for faster data transmission of W-CDMA called HSDPA, (2) use of 800MHz W-CDMA, and (3) settlement of technological conditions for CDMA 2000 in the 800MHz band. In part (1) of the report, the council recommends making a modulation method called 16 QAM available in addition to binary phase shift keying (BPSK) or quadri-phase shift keying (QPSK). According to the experimental results about throughput properties of HSDPA technology submitted by NTT DoCoMo to MPHPT, HSDPA has achieved a maximum of 14Mbps and an average from 3Mbps to 4Mbps in data transmission at a slow walking pace of 3km per hour indoors. Also in an outdoor drive-by test, data transmission was sustained at 2Mbps or faster through the experiment with a maximum speed of 8Mbps. The MPHPT is to revise the ministerial ordinance for Radio Law in the fall of 2004, following deliberations at the Radio Regulatory Council. (Nikkei Electronics, May 26, 2004)

The National Institute of Information and Communications Technology has prototyped a new wireless communications device that automatically receives and relays data, eliminating the need for a fixed base station. Measuring 30 x 12 x 20cm, it can be placed on motorcycles or in fire trucks and other emergency vehicles. The institute made the device compact through developing software that recognizes mobile communications devices and assigns data destinations. With this device, emergency personnel responding to disasters can send video and information on their location to other communications devices in emergency vehicles. As each device acts as a base station, it can relay information to other locations. With existing systems, many worry that communications may be disrupted if base stations are damaged by earthquakes, tidal waves or other natural disasters. With the new technology, however, communications networks can be built without such base stations, facilitating rescue activities. (May 21, the Nikkei Business Daily)

NTT Corp. posted a record full-year operating profit, but forecast a sharp decline in the current year, hurt by cell-phone unit NTT DoCoMo Inc. NTT owns local and long-distance units as well as majority stakes in DoCoMo and systems integrator NTT Data Corp. DoCoMo contributes more than 70% of NTT's consolidated operating profit. Its operating profit would fall to Y1.18 trillion for the year ending March 2005 from a record high of Y1.56 trillion a year earlier. Sales would fall slightly to Y10.9 trillion after a small increases in the previous year. Analysts on the average expected operating profit to edge up to Y1.51 trillion on sales of Y11 trillion. DoCoMo forecast a 25% decline in operating profit, citing higher costs from third generation services and cuts in data pricing. Operating profit is a key measure of performance in the telecommunications industry. (May 15, Reuters, the Daily Yomiuri, the Mainichi Shimbun)