09.04.2001
NTT DoCoMo to launch 3G in October

• Development:: NTT DoCoMo will roll out its third generation (3G) mobile service on 1 Oct. The company is expecting to garner 6m users by 2004.

• Analysis: The 3G launch has been delayed due to technical difficulties. During the testing of DoCoMo’s 3G handsets, experimental users expressed dissatisfaction with battery life and the 30%-50% mark up on i-mode handsets. The Taiwan gov’t is planning to release five 3G licenses by year-end 2001. Most carriers are very conservative about the roll out of 3G next year since 2.5G (GPRS) is still new to the market.

• Primasia View: We do not anticipate 3G will be available in Taiwan next year.