Late last year, Japanese wireless carrier NTT DoCoMo, Samsung, Fujitsu, NEC and Panasonic Mobile announced a joint venture to design and sell chips for high-speed Long Term Evolution (LTE) mobile networks, with details to be worked out by March. DoCoMo even went ahead and put up ¥450 million (US$5.4 million) for a new subsidiary, Communication Platform Planning, in preparation for the big launch.

On April 2, however, NTT DoCoMo announced that the planned joint venture has fallen apart, as the companies could not work out a deal by the March deadline. "The various stakeholders each had their own ideas, and an agreement could not be reached by the March deadline," said DoCoMo spokesperson Naoko Minobe, providing no further details.

LTE, Global Standard

Long Term Evolution is rapidly becoming a default global standard for the next generation of mobile networks. The LTE standard, claiming peak download rates of 100Mbps, has been adopted by several carriers in the U.S., Asia and Europe.

DoCoMo currently offers LTE services in Japan under the "Xi" brand name (pronounced "Crossy"), launched at the end of 2010. Meanwhile, KDDI and Softbank, Japan's two other major carriers, are planning to adopt the LTE standard in the future. The smaller carrier eMobile launched its own service last month. Unlike DoCoMo, however, both KDDI and Softbank offer Apple's iPhone, which will reportedly work on LTE in future versions. In the United States, the two major carriers Verizon Wireless and AT&T operate high-speed LTE networks.

Press Release

It is not clear whether DoCoMo will try to re-enter talks with all of its potential partners, or at least with some of them. Engadget offered the full press release announcing the dissolution, but it is rather light on details:

NTT DOCOMO to Dissolve Communication Platform Planning Co., Ltd. Partnerships

TOKYO, JAPAN, April 2, 2012 --- NTT DOCOMO, INC., announced today that it has terminated an agreement concerning the establishment of a joint venture company to develop and sell semiconductor products for mobile devices, which the company signed with Fujitsu Limited, Fujitsu Semiconductor Limited, NEC Corporation, Panasonic Mobile Communications Co., Ltd. and Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. in December 2011.

The joint-venture agreement was terminated because a consensus on the details of the envisioned company could not be reached by the target deadline, the end of March.

As a result, Communication Platform Planning Co., Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary that DOCOMO had established to prepare for the formation of the joint-venture company, will be liquidated in June.

(reported by Alexandra Burlacu, edited by Surojit Chatterjee)