Japan – According to Eurotechnology Japan, 31 March 2010 will be the last day of 2G mobile phone services by Softbank, and soon after Softbank will switch off all 2G base stations. NTT-DoCoMo will follow in March 2012. Thus, after March 2012 there will be no more 2G cellphone services in Japan at all. NTT-DoCoMo started 3G services in May 2001 for testing, and from October 2001 in full commercial service. Therefore the complete 2G->3G transition from start to finish will have taken 10 years and 10 months in Japan. Japan has taken quite a different approach than Europe and countries in the ‘GSM zone. In GSM countries mobile phone handsets typically include 2G and 3G circuitry, and base stations use 2G or 3G transmission depending on the location. Many operators outside Japan have not yet started 3G services at all. In Japan on the other hand, handsets are either 2G or 3G but not both, promoting a clear switch from 2G to 3G. “This may have contributed to a faster development of 3G services in Japan – however, this time-lag also meant, that for Japan’s highly advanced 3G based contents and services no market existed outside Japan yet,” notes the report.