NTT Communications Thursday said it plans to launch a commercial wireless LAN service in Tokyo from the middle of May.
When it launches, the network will consist of around 200 hotspots at cafes, hotels, convenience stores and other locations around the capital. NTT-C plans to extend the network to around 1,000 hotspots by year-end. The company is using the brand name Hotspot for the service and says it has registered the word as a service mark in Japan, although it won't stop competing carriers using it as a generic term to refer to their access point coverage areas.
The system will support both IEEE 802.11b, which operates in the 2.4 GHz band with a maximum data throughput of 11M bit/sec, and IEEE 802.11a, which is a more recent technology that has a maximum data throughput of 54M bit/sec and operates in the 5.2 GHz band. Despite those theoretical top speeds, NTT-C is promising a best-effort service at 11M bit/sec in the case of 802.11b, and 36M bit/sec in the case of 802.11a. The backbone for the network will consist of fiber access lines, asymmetric DSL and fixed wireless access.
Targeted at PDA and notebook computer users, the location of the initial hotspots includes the cafe areas of several well-known hotels, such as the Hilton Tokyo, Hotel Okura and the Prince Hotel chain. Some retail chains will also have hotspots including Kohikan coffee shops, Mos Burger fast-food restaurants, Kinko's Japan copy shops, Maruzen book shops, Ministop convenience stores and other establishments.
NTT-C said it will charge a flat monthly free of ¥1,600 ($12.30) for the service, which includes Internet access. It will launch on May 15.
It is also considering several options for business users, including working with AT&T Global Network Services Japan on the ability to access a corporate VPN.
The new service has grown out of a
trial network that has been operating since the middle of last year at around 20 locations in the city. The network is the first major commercial wireless LAN service from a Japanese telecommunication carrier intended to be used by people on the move. (Networks that utilize wireless LAN to link to homes and so do not allow roaming between hotspots are already available in some areas.)
But the Hotspot service is not expected to be the only commercial wireless LAN network to launch. Japan Telecom Co. Ltd. is running trials based largely around hotspots at railway stations and wireless network operator NTT DoCoMo, which recently launched a third-generation cellular service, is getting in on the game. It wants to use its network of existing cellular towers to install a wireless LAN network.
The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.
