Second Japanese mobile operator KDDI plans to migrate to LTE (Long Term Evolution) by 2010 as the 4G mobile standard moves towards worldwide acceptance. This shift away from KDDI’s existing CDMA2000- based network is in line with the Japanese government to make the market more competitive by enabling consumers to switch between operators without the need to replace their handsets. NTT DoCoMo and Softbank Mobile, using W-CDMA (UMTS), have already decided to replace it with LTE, which will allow high-speed communications equivalent to that offered by current fiber-optic cable communications.



(source: Yomiuri Shimbun)