NTT DoCoMo has scored another first in the Land of the Rising Sun with their Xi (pronounced as “Crossy”) LTE service, which is the first wireless connectivity service that is based on LTE technology. Scheduled for a December 24 release (how’s that for a Christmas present, Japan?), Xi is capable of hitting a maximum downlink speed of 75 Mbps, which is more or less 10 times faster than DoCoMo’s current FOMA 3G service. Voice calls via Xi will be made possible from April 2011 onwards if all goes well, with the Xi service initially being available in the Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka areas, while other major cities and regions will have to wait for a short while more. The Xi Data Plan Ninen and Xi Data Plan will be offered at first, with the former going for $60 after conversion at least until next year. Seems great, since Wi-Fi hotspots in Japan are rather hard to find from our experience while vacationing there.
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