DoCoMo Waits A Month To Admit Their Athens Network Is Just For Show

from the oh-that?--that's-just-for-show... dept

Japanese wireless carrier NTT DoCoMo got a bunch of press coverage a month ago for announcing the somewhat innovative plan to set up a temporary extension of their 3G FOMA mobile phone network in Athens. Basically, it was pitched as a way that anyone with a FOMA phone could use the phone at the Olympics as if they were back in Japan. No roaming rates, no dealing with different technologies. Just use the network as if you were back in Japan. Now, however, they're (very) quietly admitting that the service is for demo purposes only -- and not for commercial use at all. In other words, the original announcement they made was wrong... or, everyone in the press misinterpreted it. Either way, there's simply no reason for them to have waited a full month (and until the Olympics were underway) to admit that this network, which generated so much press coverage for them, was "just for show." Update: The original press release on this offering makes it pretty clear that this network was supposed to be for everyone, and not just for "demo" purposes. So, "correcting" the story at this point is just silly. The original announcement was clear. Either they lied originally, or the network wasn't working, so they suddenly closed it to real users. Either way, they should be more upfront. Thanks to Carlo for the original story and the press release.

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