Mobile Magazine July 2020 | Page 19

THE RACE FOR 5G

“ We have a very competitive market here and our position as the leading provider in the region is hard won ”

— Roderick Boss , CEO , DOCOMO PACIFIC
The other major benefit that DOCOMO PACIFIC ’ s secluded market provides is its role as an ideal test bed for leading-edge technologies . Around the world , the advent of 5G adoption is creating a revolution in the telecommunications industry . With implications that range from lightning fast , reliable digital communications , to a cornucopia of IoT and smart infrastructure applications , the next decade of digital communications are set to be defined by the rise of 5G . Early adopters and innovators in this space can expect to reap huge rewards .
THE RACE FOR 5G
“ We started our 5G journey more than two years ago ,” notes Boss . “ NTT DOCOMO was developing as a global leader of 5G innovation and we were talking to them very early on about the possibility of testing 5G capabilities in our market .” In February 2019 , the company unveiled a new DOCOMO 5G Open lab at its headquarters in Tamuning , Guam . “ NTT DOCOMO already had three other labs in Japan – in Tokyo , Okinawa and Osaka – and number four was their first international 5G lab , which was opened here ,” explains Boss . The lab serves to complement DOCOMO ’ s Open Partner Program , which allows outside companies to partner with DOCOMO PACIFIC in order to test their 5G applications , equipment and new concepts at no cost .
However , the island ’ s fiercely competitive market quickly spurred DOCOMO PACIFIC on to greater heights of innovation . “ A few weeks after the launch of our lab , one of our competitors held a big press conference to announce that they were going to commercially launch 5G in Guam and the CNMI by the end of
19 www . mobilemagazine . com