June 7, 2004 http://www.3gnewsroom.com/3g_news/jun_04/news_4568.shtml NTT DoCoMo is looking beyond its 3G network and experimenting with 4G mobile technology. The company's 3G network may only be less than 3 years old, but plans for the post 3G era is very much underway. The Japanese operator claimed at the International Conference on Beyond 3G Mobile Communications in Tokyo that had it achieved a maximum downstream data rate of 300 Mb/sec, with an average rate of 135 Mb/sec during its 4G testing. The experiment was conducted in a car running at a speed of 30 km/h that was between 800 metres and 1 kilometre from 4G wireless base stations. DoCoMo spokesman Takumi Suzuki said the highest speed of 300 Mb/sec was only a temporary rate within a very confined environment. The operator is targeting commercial 4G networks to achieve data rates of 100 Mb/sec and not 300 Mb/sec the spokesman said. The 300 Mb/sec speed is much more faster than today's networks. DoCoMo's 3G FOMA network, based on UMTS, is theoretical capable of 2 Mb/sec for the down-link. DoCoMo has been testing Variable Spreading Factor Orthogonal Frequency and Code Division Multiplexing (VSF-OFCDM) and Variable Spreading Factor Code Division Multiple Access (VSF-CDMA) technologies. South Korea is also looking to develop 4G technologies as the government was disappointed with the overall progress of 3G in the country. Japan, Korea and China have agreed to jointly develop 4G communication that could lead to a unified global communications standard. Mobile services based on 4G technologies could be available around 2010. |