EMobile leapfrogs larger Japanese rivals with HSPA+
Published: 7 August, 2009
READ MORE: Japan | eMobile | HSDPA
The latest operator to go live with HSPA+ is Japan's disruptive fourth cellco, EMobile, which relies on competitively priced data plans to undercut the big three - and so is very dependent on having a high capacity, efficient 3G network to support data volumes.
EMobile has made waves in the market with its flat rate options and by focusing heavily on laptop cards and dongles - traditionally less important to Japanese internet usage than fully mobile devices. The operator is the first to adopt HSPA+, although KDDI is offering mobile broadband data services via its UQ joint venture on WiMAX, and planning a move to EV-DO Rev B; while DoCoMo and Softbank have aggressive LTE timescales. Market leader DoCoMo supports only the 7.2Mbps version of HSPA, and looks set to leapfrog straight to LTE, bypassing HSPA+.
Huwaei has supplied the network for EMobile, and it promises peak download speeds of 21.6Mbps. This is the fastest iteration of HSPA currently in live use, and a few operators have already deployed it in select markets - Telstra in Australia being the first. Ericsson and other vendors are now pushing on towards MIMO-enabled 28Mbps and then additional speed hikes, relying on multicarrier technology.
Initially, EMobile's new network will cover the cities of Hokkaido, Sendai, Niigata, Hiroshima, Fukuoka and Nagasaki and will offer internet access, streaming media and VoIP via Huawei data cards. The cellco offers voice via a roaming/MVNO deal with DoCoMo. As of June 30, EMobile's subscriber base was 1.67m, giving it 15% share of Japan's HSPA market and a far higher rate of net additions than its larger rivals. It says it will generate a profit this year.
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