Japanese Operators Planning $10 Billion Spend on LTE Upgrades

The four Japanese mobile phone networks are expected to collectively spend one trillion yes (US$10 billion) over the next five years on so-called 3.9G based network upgrades, reported Bloomberg News, citing the local Nikkei newspaper.

The paper also confirmed that DoCoMo, KDDI, Softbank Mobile and Emobile will apply for the licenses, without specifying which technology would be deployed - although it is widely expected to be LTE based.

DoCoMo, which aims to begin its service in 2010, has earmarked as much as 400 billion yen (US$4 billion) to build its infrastructure, while Softbank, KDDI and Emobile are aiming to begin services between 2011 and 2012, the report said.

On the web: Bloomberg News

Posted to the site on 6th May 2009