NTT, Japan's largest telecommunications group, will begin testing WiMax technology next month. Various NTT groups will work together on trials of WiMax technology. The tests will examine issues such as actual throughput and potential interference to other services. This may--emphasis on may--not be good news for 3G. Recently, NTT DoCoMo said it would push the 3G technology WCDMA to faster speeds. The plan was to have this Super 3G service offer data transmission rates as high as 100 Mbps and be available in metropolitan areas as soon as 2008.

It may well be the case that NTT is looking at WiMax to complement its Super 3G offering, but it may be the case that there is a less benign agenda here. NTT is in the midst of reorganizing its Internet services, including ADSL and WiFi, under a single company called NTT Broadband Platform. The company is taking infrastructure currently operated by NTT DoCoMo, long-distance and Internet operator NTT Communications, and the NTT East and NTT West local carriers and combining it to a single platform from which group companies can offer services.

For more on NTT's move:
- read this TechWorld report

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