NTT DoCoMo begins 4G network upgrade.

It’s that time again. Time to look across the deep blue see to lands far away wishing upon a star that we were in that place. The place to wish ourselves to is Japan – the tech hub of the world. It is here where local carrier NTT DoCoMo has begun upgrading their current 3G network to an LTE based 4G network with plans to flip the switch by the end of 2010. Their goal is might speedy mind you as U.S. carriers aren’t set to begin such upgrades until that same time. DoCoMo’s approach is a smart one at that with two plans of attacks. Roughly half of their current 3G towers and stations will simply be upgraded to support the new 4G network while the remaining stations will have a piggy back “remote station” that allows simultaneous 3G/4G support as to allow seamless transition between said services.

The frequency being recruited to carry all of the 4G goodness will take place on the current 2GHz band used by DoCoMo’s 3G network. Though the 4G upgrade will take over half of their available 3G spectrum with future goals of course being a complete transition to 4G technology. Further down the line, the goal is to reach download speeds of 300Mbps and 75Mbps up for all 4G users — *drool*. Overall it’s a rather ingenious plan that will help reduce upgrade costs and maintenance. 4G couldn’t come soon enough.

Electronista