Motorola CIG Announces First Commercial Launch of Nationwide cdmaOne Cellular Network in Japan.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 14, 1998--Commercial service of Japan's first CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) digital cellular network began today using state-of-the-art infrastructure designed, manufactured and installed by Motorola, Inc.'s Cellular Infrastructure Group (CIG) for DDI, one of Japan's leading cellular service providers. The CDMA network also is known as cdmaOne(TM).

The commercial launch of the new network, which was tested during an extensive trial, is being introduced today by three of DDI's regional service providers in 177 cities including Osaka, Kobe, Kyoto, Nagasaki, Fukuoka and Naha, plus 440 towns and villages. Five other DDI regional service providers plan commercial cdmaOne launches between December and April that will extend the new service to more than 800 other cities, towns and villages.

And when IDO, another leading Japanese cellular service provider, launches its commercial cdmaOne service in April 1999, the combined service territories of the two companies will encompass nearly 2,000 cities, towns and villages nationally. Until then, DDI's cdmaOne customers with dual-mode handsets will have nationwide coverage through an existing Motorola CIG-installed analog network.

The Japanese government's original decision to support the selection of CDMA technology by its cellular service providers was based on the nation's requirement for a more spectrally efficient RF technology that provides high voice and call quality and the maximum capacity for future growth.

"In a country whose 126 million people are signing up for cellular service at a rate of almost one million a month, cdmaOne technology is the optimal cellular solution because of its high-capacity characteristics and superior voice and call quality," said Ron Hamma, vice president and general manager of Motorola CIG's Japan Cellular Infrastructure Division.

The DDI/IDO nationwide network is comprised of Motorola CIG's SC(TM) family of base stations and EMX(R) 5000 mobile switches. The EMX 5000 was developed jointly by Motorola CIG and DSC Communications Corporation. DSC manufactures the switch and provides core platform software while Motorola CIG develops the mobility applications software.

Six-sector technology, which nearly doubles a cell's capacity, plus state-of-the-art 8 Kbps Enhanced Variable Rate Coders (EVRC), digital voice encoders that provide landline quality voice transmission and significant capacity gains, are incorporated throughout the network. Unlike the older 8 Kbps and 13 Kbps vocoder technology used by other cellular and Personal Communications Service (PCS) operators, the new 8 Kbps EVRC also is exceptional in eliminating background noise that may be heard during calls in dense urban areas, for example.

In a recent survey of more than 1,400 cdmaOne live trial participants, 80 percent said the technology produced voice and call quality equal to or better than a conventional landline call, while 82 percent of those who currently use cellular phones said the cdmaOne technology's voice and call quality was superior to all other cellular technologies.

DDI is the second largest carrier in Japan. Established in June of 1984, DDI operates eight regional phone companies that provide both analog and Personal Digital Communications (PDC) cellular service.

IDO was established in March of 1987 to offer mobile phone communication services. IDO's service areas reach out from the heart of Tokyo and cover much of the central region of Honshu, the principal island of Japan and the nation's most densely populated area.

Motorola CIG deployed the world's first commercial CDMA system in 1995 in Hong Kong. Currently, the company has more than 100 agreements in 25 countries to provide commercial and trial cdmaOne equipment across the globe.

Motorola CIG deployed its first cellular system, an analog TACS network, in 1989 in Japan for DDI's Kansai Cellular Telephone in the Osaka region. The other seven DDI regions and IDO followed later to provide nationwide coverage.

In 1991, Motorola CIG introduced NTACS (Narrowband TACS) into Japan when DDI began NTACS service in Osaka and IDO later launched NTACS service in Tokyo and Nagoya. By 1992, Motorola CIG analog systems were serving subscribers nationwide in all eight regions served by DDI and the two areas served by IDO. To accommodate the tremendous popularity of cellular in Japan, operators began launching PDC, a new digital technology which offered system capacity gains of about three times that of TACS.

In 1993, Motorola CIG began deploying PDC systems for the service provider Tu-Ka at 1.5 GHz in the Tokyo and Tokai regions and at 800 MHz with DDI's other cellular telephone companies. The nationwide buildout of PDC was completed by Motorola CIG in late 1996 with the commercial launch of the Okinawa system.

Motorola, Inc. has been operating in Japan since opening its first office in 1962 in Tokyo. Motorola CIG maintains sales, service and engineering support facilities in Japan, as well as a 3G research and development center.

Motorola, Inc. is one of the world's leading providers of wireless communications, semiconductors, and advanced electronic systems, components and services. Motorola's 1997 sales were $29.8 billion.

For more information on Motorola CIG, please visit the web site at http://www.mot.com/cig/.

    CONTACT: Motorola CIG
              Joe Arimond, 847/632-3889
              [e-mail]
               or
              DDI Corporation
              Mamoru Mishina, 813/3221-9526