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NTT plans live video relay between mobile phones, PCs

Posted on: Tuesday, 28 January 2003, 06:00 CST

Source: Associated Press

TOKYO (AP) -- Japan's biggest telecommunications company, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp., has developed a videophone platform that connects mobile phones with personal computers, the NTT Group said Tuesday.

The videophone service will hook personal computers that have broadband network connections to NTT DoCoMo's third-generation mobile phones -- all of which are equipped with digital cameras.

Hoping to tap the growing demand for mobile video communication, NTT is marketing the service as a way for salespeople to make presentations to faraway customers or enable travelers to visually connect with families at home.

The new platform will offer live video relay and also allow better quality of audio and video communication between PCs, the company said.

NTT did not cite the cost of the planned service, scheduled for nationwide release in Japan by September.

The company said it plans to test the product for two months with about 70 companies and individuals to evaluate the new technology's feasibility.

The 3G phones send information at up to 40 times the speed of current cell phones. NTT DoCoMo began offering 3G phones a year ago but has struggled to attract users. NTT DoCoMo 3G users total about 150,000 so far.

NTT DoCoMo dominates the overall Japanese cell phone market, controlling about 60 percent because of its hit ``i-mode'' Net-linking phones.

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Copyright © 2003 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.

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