Viladecavalls (Barcelona), May 13, 2014.- FICOSA has announced today that the company has entered into a collaboration with NTT DOCOMO, the largest mobile operator in Japan with respect to their M2M businesses, and specially in the integration of 4G LTE services in the automotive industry mainly in Japan. It is envisaged that the important scale resulting from the cooperation of both companies will be of the utmost importance in addressing the integration of 4G capabilities inside vehicles.
More specifically, the cooperation covers joint technical approaches to enable a seamless 4G solution integrated in vehicles by means of using connectivity modules (or iVTU’s, in-Vehicle Telematic Units).
In that sense, both FICOSA and NTT DOCOMO have demonstrated in real vehicle environments that 4G connectivity is feasible by means of using Ficosa’s iVTU’s and NTT DOCOMO’s 4G network in Japan. High rates of connectivity were achieved under different scenarios, including WI-Fi HotSpot capabilities, allowing to connect several devices at the same time to Ficosa’s iVTU.
The cooperation between the two companies in this area has been of great importance, moreover when it is expected a massive deployment of Telematic systems based on 4G in coming years. FICOSA, as a Tier-1 supplier in the automotive industry, demonstrates that its iVTUs are meeting automotive standards when integrating 4G services.
FICOSA’s iVTUs have been recognized in the industry as best-in-class, being awarded with several worldwide projects for major automotive OEMs. Moreover, FICOSA’s iVTUs with 4G capabilities are miniaturized, even considering the integration of all the antennas inside the units, which is key for safety and security applications.
NTT DOCOMO’s 4G network, on the other side, demonstrated that it could provide full coverage for FICOSA’s iVTU’s installed in vehicles, which is key for a seamless integration of service and a good Quality of Service.
“By cooperating with FICOSA, the largest automotive Tier-1 supplier in Europe, we will be able to jointly develop 4G LTE based telematics by combining FICOSA’s high spec iVTUs and DOCOMO’s network technology. FICOSA is truly one of the leading companies in the industry, and we hope that we can work together to bring new services and functions that realizes a comfortable driving environment to drivers in Japan”, said Tsutomu Shindou, Executive Vice President of NTT DOCOMO.
“4G telephony connectivity, including Wi-Fi hot spot, has continues growth on the vehicles with state-of-the-art technology. In that sense, our partnership with NTT DOCOMO, is supporting to FICOSA to implement that technology on the Japanese market with our LTE integrated antennas as part of the proof of new technologies inside telematic devices from our Company. On the other hand, FICOSA is as well working on other growing markets with the same technology such as USA where we saw a clear tendency from 3G to 4G telephony connectivity due close sunset of 2G technology”, said Josep Maria Forcadell, Director of the Advanced Communications Unit of FICOSA. It is expected that, as a result of this joint cooperation, both companies will increase their capabilities to offer better value propositions to their respective customers in different markets and geographies.
Furthermore, both FICOSA and NTT DOCOMO will continuously cooperate with the aim of
enhancing the development of new products and business cases, with a specific focus on meeting the expectations of existing and potential new global customers mainly in Japan.
About FICOSA
FICOSA is an industrial group based in Spain and a global leader in research, development, production and marketing of automotive systems and parts. Founded in 1949, the company, with headquarters in Barcelona (Spain), holds a team close to 8,500 employees and manufacturing plants, technological centers and offices located throughout 19 countries in Europe, North America, South America and Asia. The Group invests 4% of its income in R&D, and operates one of the top technology development centers in Spain addressed to the automotive, electronics, energy and communications industries. FICOSA has positioned itself for the future as a world leader in electronic systems with a global and more diversified business agenda and
an expanded added value product line.