Docomo as National Champion: I-mode, W-CDMA and NTT's Role as Japan's Pilot Organization in Global Telecommunications

John Ratliff, Santa Clara University

ABSTRACT

This paper examines present efforts by Japan wireless telecommunications firm NTT DoCoMo, in developing new technologies and services in wireless, broadband Internet. In particular it examines DoCoMo's i-mode service, the world's first commercially available packet-switched wireless Internet service, with over 10 million subscribers in Japan, as well as DoCoMo's efforts in developing and establishing W-CDMA and the global standard in broadband, Third Generation wireless communication. These developments are contextualized, both in terms of their implications for the ongoing convergence of mobile telephony and the Internet, but also the effect on relative national competitiveness in global information and communication technologies in general, and a resurgence of Japanese competitiveness in particular.