NTT DoCoMo announced that its 15-month-old FDD-LTE network added 1 million subscribers since late December, putting the network's total subscription base above 2 million.
The LTE network, which operates under the name Xi (pronounced "crossy"), launched Dec. 24, 2010, and reached 1 million subs after one year of operation. "Subscriptions have doubled to 2 million in just three months, propelled by the introduction of the first Xi-compatible smartphones in November 2011," said DoCoMo.
DoCoMo has a total of 60 million customers on all of its mobile networks in Japan.
DoCoMo said it intends to offer more Xi-compatible smartphones, tablets and data-communication devices and mobile Wi-Fi routers. It is also promoting its Xi Talk 24, which enables free, unlimited voice calls between DoCoMo users of Xi-compatible smartphones.
DoCoMo says its Xi network offers a maximum downlink speed of 75 Mbps. Xi recently gained a direct competitor with the launch of an FDD-LTE network by eMobile, the mobile unit of eAccess. Another network based on AXGP, which is loosely related to TD-LTE, was launched last month by Softbank and is said to offer a maximum download speed of 76 Mbps.
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