J-Phone to delay 3G launch


Third-generation mobile phones offer the ability to download video images

Staff and wires

TOKYO, Japan -- Japan's second-largest mobile operator J-Phone said Wednesday it will defer the launch of its third-generation (3G) service to the end of this year.

J-Phone, which has more than 12 million subscribers, will now start its 3G commercial service in December, rather than June.

Third-generation mobile services allow high-speed Internet connections and make downloads of music clips, videos and data more feasible.

President Darryl Green said that J-Phone would start a trial service on June 30 for metropolitan areas instead, Reuters news agency reported.

The delay will likely put J-Phone further behind rivals NTT DoCoMo and No. 2 telco KDDI Corp in 3G services, the agency said.

Shares down

J-Phone is the mobile unit of No. 3 carrier Japan Telecom, which in turn is owned by U.K.-based mobile giant Vodafone Group.

Japan Telecom shares closed down 1.68 percent at 410,000 yen. The benchmark Nikkei 225 average was off 0.54 percent.

In London, shares of parent Vodafone dropped to a four-year low, after disappointing results from a joint venture with Verizon in the U.S. Vodafone closed Tuesday at 107p, down 4.75p, for its lowest close since March 1998.

NTT DoCoMo, the No. 1 mobile operator in Japan, delayed the launch of its 3G service by six months last year to iron out technical glitches.

DoCoMo shares dropped Wednesday 1.19 percent to 331,000 yen and KDDI fell 2.22 percent to 352,000 yen.