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2G Phones gone in Japan

By: Florin Troaca, Communications News Editor

2G mobile phones account for the majority of the handsets currently functional worldwide. They only work on GSM, CDMA, TDMA or PCD networks and offer less advantages than the new generation phones which come with support for 3G. Most probably, as time goes by, all 2G networks will be completely replaced with new 3G (or equivalent) ones.

Japan, one of the most evolved countries in fundamentals of telecommunications, is now offering us a quick look of how the mobile future looks like: no 2G phones. AFP reports that, in the first month of 2008, not a single 2G phone was sold on the Japanese market, all the commercialized mobile phones being 3G enabled.

Japan was the first country to invest a 3G network, in 2001, when NTT DoCoMo (currently the largest mobile provider in the country) in order for the 3G services. Even so, Hello Kitty the homeland is not the first to leave 2G phones, as this has already been done in South Korea.

Since Japanese customers no longer buy 2G phones, these will soon vanish completely from the market. Which is not bad at all, since 3G offers things that 2G can only dream about, like high speed Web access and downloads, or various interactive features. Furthermore, 3G networks are brilliant for mobile TV broadcasts – one of the main reasons why more than 50% of the Japanese subscribers use mobile TV services.

While in North America 3G quickly accepted by consumers in Europe less than 10% of mobile users have 3G handsets. However, it is clear that 3G represents the future of mobile communications and all operators and handset manufacturers must recognize this fact. Hearing that Apple? 2G will soon be obsolete, so you better to 3G iPhone faster. Many users think you should even packed 3G connectivity in from the start, but hey, they are no Steve Jobs.

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