http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Japan/FD06Dh02.html TOKYO - Japan, China and South Korea have agreed to jointly develop communications and other technologies for fourth-generation (4G) cellular phones, which are expected to come into commercial use around 2010, sources close to the matter said. The agreement is aimed at having the three countries, which together account for about 30 percent of the world's cell phone users, adopt a unified communications protocol that could eventually become the global standard. Working-level meetings will soon begin on a regular basis to exchange views and promote joint research among their scientific institutes and private companies. Fourth-generation cell phones, which will succeed the freedom of mobile multimedia access (FOMA) third-generation service from NTT DoCoMo Inc, and the CDMA2000 third-generation service of KDDI Corp, are expected to enable throughput of 100 megabits per second - equivalent to the speed of fiber-optic communications. They also are expected to allow users to watch crystal-clear television images on their displays, even on fast-moving trains. Posts and Telecommunications Minister Taro Aso will meet his Chinese and South Korean counterparts in Japan in July to sign an accord on joint development, the sources said. The three countries are expected to adopt the same stance from now on at international conferences and other occasions designed to determine the global use of frequency bandwidths - a crucial point in spreading fourth-generation cell-phone services. (Asia Pulse/Nikkei)