Global UMTS TDD Alliance Applauds Japan's Spectrum Allocation

US : The Global UMTS TDD Alliance applauds last week's announcement by the Japanese government to allocate the 2-GHz spectrum band for IMT-2000 TDD technologies. The Alliance believes that the ruling will lead to greater competition and new services for the Japanese market.

Last week, the Japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications announced that Japan's 2010 - 2025 MHz spectrum would be allocated solely to IMT-2000 TDD technologies. This paves the way for broadband wireless networks using UMTS TDD, also known as TD-CDMA in Japan; the first commercially deployed IMT-2000 technology for unpaired spectrum. Optimized for high-speed data, UMTS TDD is already used by operators and manufacturers worldwide and has emerged as a leading standard for Broadband Wireless Access.

The Ministry's Guidelines also stipulate that the spectrum be allocated to a new service provider -- increasing competition in Japan's wireless market. IPMobile, one of the founding members of the Global UMTS TDD Alliance, plans to offer the first commercially available mobile data communication services to start in the year 2006. IPMobile, whose UMTS TDD trial network in Tokyo has been active for over two years, contributed to Japanese study groups and telecom councils held by the Ministry.

The UMTS TDD Standard for Broadband Wireless

Many of the biggest trends in telecommunications and technology point to growing demand for a ubiquitous, very high speed, low latency, mobile, IP network to provide broadband and other packet services to users at home, at work, or on the road. UMTS TDD, the TDD branch of the 3G UMTS international telecommunications standard, was developed by the 3GPP to meet these market requirements.

Wireless operators, Internet service providers, and Greenfield operators around the world have chosen the UMTD TDD standard because it is the best choice for provisioning ubiquitous broadband data and voice services. Because UMTS TDD networks are compliant with spectrum requirements in Japan, the EU, and elsewhere, offer unmatched performance and economics, and are standards-based, these networks cover more people in more countries than any other Broadband Wireless Access technology. UMTS TDD is commercially deployed in Australia, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Malaysia, New Zealand, Portugal, South Africa, and the United States.