The world's first 3G phone service has been introduced by Japanese telecom company NTT DoCoMo. 3G is considered the next major step in Internet and communications technology.
Users of the new phone will be able to surf the Internet and see pictures of the people they are talking to. They will also be able to download material from the Internet 40 times faster than they can now.
Technical problems and an unstable network forced DoCoMo to postpone its original launch date in May.
The Japanese telecommunications firm hopes to conquer the markets in Europe and America and snap up six million domestic subscribers by March 2004.
The service, named "Freedom of Mobile Multi-media Access", or Foma, will initially be limited to a 20-mile radius around a number of centres.
DoCoMo said it plans to introduce the service to the Osaka, Kyoto and Nagoya areas by December - and to the rest of Japan by spring 2002.
In Ireland telecom operators and suppliers are still awaiting the commencement of a "beauty contest" that will determine which bidders should be granted licences to build 3G networks.
To its advocates, 3G will revolutionise mobile telecommunications, enabling handsets to provide features including video pictures and digital sound, which should mean many lucrative revenue streams to those operators with a licence to operate in this market.
Auctions in Britain and Germany for the licences generated a windfall of more than £38 billion the exchequers of those countries.
However, the elation felt by successful licence holders and governments changed to pessimism as the costs sank in.
Operators not only had to pay onerous licence fees but build networks, all on the back of an unproven technology. As a result, subsequent licence award processes, such as those in France, were met with less enthusiasm.
Additional reporting PA