History
The history of mobile communications parallels the history of NTT DOCOMO. Established in 1992, DOCOMO launched its first digital cellular phone service the next year and the world's first mobile Internet-services platform in 1999. It helped to establish the W-CDMA standard for mobile communications and then kick off the first 3G service based on this standard in 2001. The company also introduced one of the earliest commercial LTE services in 2010. Over the years DOCOMO has built up one of the globe's largest mobile subscriber bases, accounting for over half of the Japanese market.
Brief History | |
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July 1992 | NTT Mobile Communications Network, Inc. takes over mobile communications business of the reorganizing Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT) |
March 1993 | Launches mova 2G (800 MHz) digital cellular phone service |
April 1994 | Launches CITYPHONE 1.5 GHz digital cellular phone service in urban areas |
March 1997 | Launches DoPa packet-data communications service |
October 1998 | Lists on Tokyo Stock Exchange |
December 1998 | Takes over Personal Handyphone System (PHS) business from NTT Personal Group |
February 1999 | Launches i-mode as world's first mobile Internet-services platform |
April 2000 | Changes official name to NTT DoCoMo, Inc. |
October 2001 | Launches 3G FOMA service on fully commercialized basis |
March 2002 | Lists on London (delisted on March 2014) and New York stock exchanges |
December 2005 | Launches iD credit brand |
April 2006 | Launches DCMX mobile credit-card service |
July 2008 | Merges with eight regional subsidiaries and rebrands corporation |
December 2010 | Launches one of world's first LTE services, Xi (read "crossy") |
March 2012 | Shifts customer base completely to 3G and LTE services |
October 2013 | Changes official name to NTT DOCOMO, INC. |