Japanese operator NTT DOCOMO today unveiled “Xi”, the name for their LTE network due to launch in December of this year in Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka. Speeds are supposed to hit 75 Mbps (9.375 megabytes per second!) on the downlink. Assuming Verizon launches their LTE network on November 15th, then Xi will be the 3rd commercial LTE network to go live, the first being TeliaSonera’s Swedish and Norwegian simultaneous launch in December 2009. Since when are the Japanese so slow to adopt new network technology?
Anyway, the questions you probably have are what will this cost and what devices will be available at launch? None of that is known yet. DOCOMO just wanted to issue a press release to give birth to a new brand and logo.
It’s pretty.
Small Update: This short sentence was buried at the bottom of the press release: “At launch, Xi will offer downlinks of up to 75 Mbps indoors in selected buildings and 37.5 Mbps in other areas.” That’s confusing, why do some areas go half as slow?