NTT DoCoMo announces Xi LTE network over in Japan

With LTE still fairly new over here, the folks over in Japan aren’t going to get left behind either, as Japanese wireless provider NTT DoCoMo has launched its LTE service over in Japan. The network went online on Christmas Eve and is the country’s first 4G network, dubbed Xi. It will initially cover Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka, though there are plans to expand it to 70 percent of the country’s population by March of 2015. Xi users who happen to go beyond the LTE service area will be automatically transferred over to the carrier’s FOMA 3G network. Thanks to the new network, outdoor download speeds can go up to 37.5Mbps and uploads can reach 12.5Mbps. Indoor areas that offer service coverage, such as Tokyo International Airport, will allow users to go as fast as 75Mbps for downloads, nearly 10 times faster than the carrier’s modern HSPA-based 3G service.