With European operators including giant Vodafone Group Plc continuing to hesitantly push back the commercial launch date for third-generation networks in Europe, it comes as some surprise that Vodafone seems to be committing to a launch date this year for 3G services in Japan.

Through its local subsidiary J-Phone Co, the company is still shooting for the already once-delayed launch of commercial 3G services in Japan in December this year, even after the disastrous take-up of 3G through the largest Japanese operator NTT DoCoMo Inc.

J-Phone has announced that two telecoms equipment vendors, Nokia Corp and NEC Corp will supply it with micro base stations for the network, which has already been rolled out through Japan's major metropolitan areas. The company has also signed up NEC and Nokia to supply dual-mode 3G mobile phones, and is currently negotiating with Motorola for supply of further dual-mode phones.

© ComputerWire