By Ben King, 26 April 2001 17:28
NEWS A condition of the 3G licences awarded to Airtel, Amena, Telefonica and Xfera was that they provide coverage in major urban areas from the end of August. It will now allow them to delay launches until 2002, citing technical problems. Earlier this week, Japanese mobile network NTT DoCoMo admitted it will be unable to meet the May deadline for the launch of its 3G network. NTT DoCoMo cited technical problems with the standard, as well as standard delays. The second Japanese mobile network J-Phone last month announced a seven-month delay. Pundits have taken the news in their stride, as the deadline was widely seen as entirely unrealistic. A reliable source told silicon.com that one Spanish network had only received three base stations. Of the pack of 3G pioneers, only BT subsidiary Manx Telecom is sticking to its earlier deadlines - but the scale of their planned roll-out, covering a fraction of the Isle of Man, is far smaller than those of NTT DoCoMo or the Spanish networks.
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