Japan’s largest mobile operator NTT DoCoMo says it will stop accepting new customers on its PDC-based 2G service – known as ‘mova’ – from November 30 this year, reports Digital Media Asia. In addition, the operator will also waive its usual fee of JPY2,100 (US$19) for transferring customers from mova to its 3G ‘FOMA’ service from tomorrow in a bid to encourage customers to make the switch. However, DoCoMo did not put a date on when it would switch-off the older network, claiming it would depend on the speed of the customer migration process. It was reported earlier in the year that the operator would stop taking orders for its 2G mobile service once it has exhausted its current stock of 2G handsets. It is believed that handset makers stopped supplying mova models to the operator at the end of last year.

It was also reported last month that DoCoMo rival Softbank would close down its 2G network by the end of March 2010 in an effort to focus on 3G services. According to Wireless Intelligence data, DoCoMo had migrated 90 percent of its 53.6 million customers to 3G by the end of second-quarter 2008, while Softbank had 80 percent of its estimated 19.1 million customers on 3G services in the same period.