On Tuesday, July 9, 2002, at 08:50 , FLEX-MAGAZINE@TELDA.NET wrote:
interesting domain you are on there. is this coincidence or intention ?
"gotta tell 'da net, brotha!" Cool ! I like it ;-)
> does anyone know if there is already a
> roadmap to migrate DoCoMo PDC users to
> FOMA?
I don't think they have published anything. So far they have been very
careful not to make any bold statements that may then not materialise.
The general tenor from DoCoMo has been that it will take a long time to
migrate to FOMA and I can't remember to have heard or read anything from
them that even used the phrase "shutting down PDC".
> I know that KDDI is planning to
> complete the migration to CDMA2000 by 2004
> (nihon keizai shimbun, nov 01,
> http://cellular-news.com/story/5148.shtml) and
> shut down its PDC network by then,
Ah yes, but KDDI is a special case, you see.
KDDI (or better its pre-merger predecessors) migrated from PDC to CDMA
in 1997/1998 and they have since migrated most of their PDC users away
onto CDMA.
The little bit of PDC business which they still have is more a legacy of
bad debt than it is a real business to them. Their focus has long been
on CDMA and it is understandable that they can afford to set a date for
shutting down their PDC network under those circumstances.
In addition to that, the CDMA migration path (CDMA1x - CDMA2000) is also
much easier than any migration from PDC to UMTS. In fact there is no
real migration path (in the true sense of the word path) from PDC to
UMTS at all. All you can do is built another network and get your users
to abandon the one and sign up again on the other.
> but how
> about DoCoMo (and J-Phone)?
DoCoMo operates PDC services both in the 800/900 MHz band and in the
1500 MHz band; J-Phone only operate in the 1500 MHz band. KDDI have
reused their 800/900 PDC spectrum for CDMA and whatever 800/900 MHz
spectrum they have still in use for PDC, they are likely to reuse it
when they shut down their PDC network. However, neither DoCoMo nor
J-Phone have any such option.
So far I have not seen any spectrum allocation plans that show future
allocations after DoCoMo's and J-Phone's PDC network will have been shut
down. However, it is reasonable to assume that the Japanese government
will take this as an opportunity to carry out a long overdue clean up of
the Japanese spectrum in the 800/900 MHz band.
As both DoCoMo and J-Phone are now members of the GSM association (the
organisation of GSM operators, manufacturers and regulators) and GSM is
an integral part of the meta-standard portfolio of UMTS, it is
conceivable that DoCoMo and J-Phone may get their spectrum "refurbished"
and are then allowed to roll out GSM-900 networks.
At the same time, KDDI could have its 800/900 MHz spectrum refurbished
to match the US-800 MHz band which is used for CDMA outside of Japan.
Eventually, the 800 MHz spectrum dedicated to CDMA and the 900 MHz
spectrum dedicated to GSM may then see a refurbishment of protocols on a
global scale but gradually and use W-CDMA air interfaces defined for
3GSM/UMTS/3GPP or whatever the fashion of the day will be by then.
What may happen to the 1500 MHz spectrum in Japan is difficult to even
make a guess. No other country uses this spectrum for wireless
telephony. Perhaps it will play a role in moving some users now in the
800/900 MHz band out of there to make space. There is a lot of stuff in
midst of the 800/900 MHz cellular band that really shouldn't be there.
Although it is possible to make an informed guess based on reasonable
assumptions, I'd say that any of this is at least the good part of a
decade away, so it is rather premature at this point.
regards
benjamin
Received on Wed Jul 10 09:31:05 2002