NTT DoCoMo announced that it will accept proposals from suppliers for development of equipment for Super 3G base stations and handsets.

DoCoMo will select one or more suppliers for each of these categories around October and aims to complete the technology with the selected suppliers before the end of 2009.

The Super 3G standard is expected to provide superfast downlink data rates of over 100Mbps and uplink data rates of over 50Mbps, low-latency data transmission, and improved spectrum efficiency.

Super 3G features highly advanced versions of high-speed downlink packet access (HSDPA) and high-speed uplink packet access (HSUPA), which are W-CDMA packet transmission technologies standardized by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP).

The 3GPP, a telecommunications standards body, has been in discussion to standardize Super 3G under the name Long Term Evolution (LTE).

DoCoMo, aiming to secure prolonged and efficient use of 3G spectrum resources, is an active member in the LTE discussions. DoCoMo believes Super 3G will allow the company to make a smooth transition to 4G in the future.

The 3GPP plans to release LTE’s final specs in 2007, but has completed most of the basic system designs at its June meeting. DoCoMo is thus set to begin developing equipment for practical application of the Super 3G technology.

KTF, one of South Korea’s leading cellular providers, has launched a next-generation ultra-high speed 3.5G wireless network in Seoul and cities across South Korea using wireless broadband technology from LG-Nortel, a joint venture of LG Electronics and Nortel (NYSE/TSX: NT). The network supports advanced handset capabilities including high-definition (HD) video, video chatting, messaging and remote monitoring.

The new 3.5 G HSDPA, handset-based service is being launched with two handset models in the initial deployment – including the first HSDPA phone from LG Electronics, the LG-KH1000. A further four to five handsets are planned later in the year. KTF’s new service is branded ‘WorldPhone View’, a name representing ‘the world at your fingertips’ through access to video and collaborative multimedia applications.

KTF’s HSDPA mobile communications will be rolled out in 50 cities across South Korea beginning June 30. LG-Nortel is the primary network supplier and is the exclusive vendor for 34 cities including the vast Seoul metropolitan area which alone accounts for almost 50 percent of the total population of Korea. It is estimated that 80 percent of the country’s population will be able to access the service by the end of August 2006. A further 34 cities will be added by year-end, raising that figure to over 90 percent of the population, according to KTF estimates.

“The launch of our ‘WorldPhone View’ HSDPA service is a key component of KTF’s portfolio of next-generation mobile services,” said Won-Jin Park, executive vice president, KTF. “We chose LG-Nortel as the primary supplier for our UMTS/HSDPA network based on its strong technology credentials and our existing relationship. LG-Nortel has successfully implemented a world-class network which allows us to implement groundbreaking services as we enhance the mobile communications experience for all our customers.”

“LG Nortel, with the strong support of our parent companies Nortel and LGE, has implemented a secure, reliable, high-speed network to support the innovative range of services and applications KTF is launching to its customers,” said Peter MacKinnon, chairman of the board, LG-Nortel. “Korea leads the world in wireless broadband and LG-Nortel plays an integral role in ensuring the continuation of that success. We will work closely with KTF on the evolution of their network to support higher uplink speeds and ever-more sophisticated service requirements in the future.”

A key differentiator of HSDPA compared to current technologies is its ability to support high-speed, real-time HD video content. ‘WorldPhone View’ users will be able to access a variety of new services, including video SMS, video ringtone services, video chatting, video ad messaging and video remote monitoring – as well as high-quality video telephony. High-speed broadband capabilities will also enhance music downloads and high-volume multimedia collaboration and set the foundation for more sophisticated online gaming applications. The two HSDPA handsets being launched will also support universal integrated circuit (IC) cards, allowing access to secure transactions for transportation, membership, mobile banking and credit card services.

KTF’s HSDPA wireless network can deliver services at download speeds up to 14.4Mbps. The introduction of LG-Nortel’s HSUPA upgrade, planned for early 2007, will increase uplink speeds to 5.8 Mbps, improving performance for services requiring the high-speed upload of data.

Demonstrating its technology leadership, Nortel achieved the industry’s first HSDPA mobile call in January 2005 and Nortel and LGE completed the first live test calls using a commercial handset solution for HSDPA in March 2005. More recently, in February 2006, Nortel achieved approval for the introduction of high speed OFDM and MIMO packet access, in line with its technology HSOPA, into the Global 3GPP LTE standards. This paves the way for ‘multiplay’ services including voice, high-speed interactive applications including large data transfer, feature-rich IPTV, IMS enabled services, all with full mobility.

Alcatel (Paris:CGEP.PA and NYSE: ALA) today announced that it has been selected by Telekom Malaysia (TM) as the prime supplier of Celcom Berhad, a wholly-owned company of TM and Malaysia’s premier mobile communications provider, for its 3G/UMTS wireless network. This contract, valued at Euro 70 million, reinforces Alcatel’s position as CELCOM’s leading partner for advanced network solutions.

Upon completion of the project, Celcom will be able to offer customers across the Malaysian peninsula, as well as Sabah and Sarawak islands, a whole array of innovative high-bandwidth services for multimedia mobile communications such as live streaming mobile TV channels.

Under the agreement, Alcatel delivers 3G/UMTS radio access network infrastructure and high-performance digital microwave links to carry the traffic of enhanced mobile data services, enabling Celcom to complete the next phase of its national 3G deployment program.

Based on the EvoliumВ® platform, Alcatel’s broadband wireless access solutions will offer Celcom high throughput on the move, low latency, end-to-end QoS, affordability, efficient backhauling and maximum site reuse. Thanks to its built-in software modularity, the Alcatel EvoliumВ® radio access solution will allow a simplified software activation of HSDPA, through reuse the Alcatel hardware equipment already deployed in Celcom’s 3G/UMTS network.

“Celcom joins CamGSM (Cambodia) as the second Asia Pacific service provider, in less than three months, to select Alcatel for implementation of its 3G/UMTS network,” said FrГ©dГ©ric Rose, President of Alcatel Asia Pacific. “Celcom and CamGSM represent a growing number of Asia Pacific service providers in High Growth Economies that are evolving towards 3G and looking to Alcatel for an efficient software-upgradeable solution.”

Leveraging its natively multi-standard design, the Alcatel EvoliumВ® multi-standard radio access solution enables the seamless coexistence of GSM/EDGE and 3G capabilities in the same radio equipment. Furthermore, thanks to its built-in software modularity, the solution will subsequently allow a smooth software-based introduction of HSDPA and HSUPA when the local market requires these functionalities, thus enabling a future-safe and cost-effective path for the operator.

The Alcatel 9400 AWY family is a new generation of digital PDH, low and medium capacity, point-to-point microwave links, which is part of one of the most comprehensive and competitive mobile network backhauling solution of the market. With multiple interfaces – PDH, SDH and Ethernet – the Alcatel solution enables a future-safe and cost-effective path for the operator.

Also selected are the Alcatel 7670 Edge Services Extender (ESE) and 5620 Network Manager (NM) which will provide high density aggregation and switching of 3G ATM circuits for the EvoliumВ® radio access solution to also further reduce cost.