KDDI eyes current voice method for advanced mobile system

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KDDI Corp intends to maintain the CDMA 2000 method, used for the current third-generation mobile services, for voice communications in future advanced mobile services, company officials have said. The so-called 3.9G mobile services, which offer broadband wireless access at a speed comparable to that of asymmetric digital subscriber lines, are expected to be launched around 2010.

For data transmission, however, KDDI plans to adopt the Long Term Evolution, or LTE, technology, an internationally supported method to be compatible with the wideband code division multiple access, or W-CDMA, mobile method now used by its rivals NTT DoCoMo Inc and Softbank Mobile Corp, the officials said.

While Japan’s telecommunications ministry mulling deregulation to allow users to switch their mobile carriers by changing the integrated circuit cards in their handsets, no unification of the next-generation mobile platforms is likely to delay the realization of that convenience.

As the 3.9G method is viewed as a transitional technology to the 4G system, which offers transmission speeds as fast as fiber-optic networks, KDDI apparently hopes to put off fully unifying the specifications until the 4G era or later.