News / Networks
DoCoMo plans a mobile WiMax trial in Tokyo
NTT DoCoMo said in April 2006 that it had applied to run a one-year outdoor mobile WiMax trial in Tokyo’s Yoyogi area with other NTT companies.
Testing the mobile variant
The proposed network used 802.16e, then known as mobile WiMax. DoCoMo planned to examine throughput, handset operation while moving, base-station placement and a possible link with satellite broadband. Those are practical questions for a radio trial, rather than a description of a commercial rollout.
The company was not alone in exploring the technology: KDDI had announced a network around Osaka, while Yozan was deploying WiMax equipment for laptop users in the Tokyo area. An analyst quoted in the source viewed DoCoMo’s interest as part of its wider 4G research and cautioned against reading the test as a near-term commitment to a competing network.