Japanese, S Korea Firms In Pact For Mobile Phones

DDI and IDO, two Japanese telecoms companies, have agreed a tie-up with South Koreas Shinsegi Telecom to promote CDMA mobile phone technology.

The three companies have agreed to share technical information, operations know-how and marketing information on CDMA - or code division multiple access - technology developed by Qualcomm of the US.

They will also co-operate in the research and development of an advanced version of the standard as well as start roaming services in Japan and South Korea by 2002 .

when the two countries will co-host the soccer World Cup.

The agreement between DDI, IDO and Shinsegi is expected to intensify competition between the various camps seeking to set the standard for next generation digital mobile phone technology.

The CDMA camp, which includes DDI, IDO, Shinsegi and Qualcomm, which has a 2.46 per cent stake in Shinsegi, has already signed up about 4.5m subscribers in the US, Canada, South Korea, Hong Kong and others.

When DDI and IDO introduce CDMA-based services next spring, the number of subscribers worldwide should increase.

A second group of operators, led by NTT Docomo, Japans leading mobile phone company, which has about 50 per cent of the Japanese market, and including South Koreas SK Telecom, also a leading operator in that country, plan to start services using wide-band CDMA, developed under the leadership of Docomo and planned to be developed commercially in 2000.

Meanwhile, a group of European companies have been supporting an advanced version of GSM, the European standard. However, Europes leading telecoms equipment manufacturers Ericsson and Nokia have expressed their support for the wide-band CDMA technology proposed by NTT Docomo.

The International Telecommunications Union is expected to recommend a global standard in 1999 which would allow users to take a single handset and use it anywhere in the world.

The stakes are high, notes Mr Toshiaki Iba, senior analyst at ING Barings in Tokyo. The mobile phone market has grown into a huge global market and many countries face a need to upgrade to advanced digital technology due to the growing lack of radio wave frequencies.

In such countries as Japan where mobile phone use has spread rapidly, the authorities are concerned that if the market continues to grow at its current pace, frequencies could run out as early as 2000. Copyright Financial Times Limited 1997. All Rights Reserved.