Japan is at the vanguard of 3G technology development, network build and commercial. NTT DoCoMo launched the world’s first commercial 3G network in late 2001, and while service providers in 115 other countries have since followed suit, Japan still lays claim to the largest 3G subscriber base in the world. With almost 92 million UMTS users at the end of March 2009, Japan has 50% more 3G subscribers than the United States, and three times as many as South Korea.