Leading Japanese carrier NTT DoCoMo said Thursday it is laying the foundations for its LTE deployment by rolling out new WCDMA base stations that will be compatible with the 4G technology.

DoCoMo said the remote radio equipment (RRE) capable base stations – which are WCDMA and LTE compatible – will account for about half of the carrier’s initial quota of LTE base stations when DoCoMo launches LTE services in December 2010.

The deployment is part of DoCoMo’s plan to layer a 2GHz LTE network over its existing 3G network to provide dual WCDMA/LTE services, as the LTE network is expanded gradually.

RRE units allow for the relatively easy and efficient installation of LTE base stations to existing WCDMA base stations and also help to lower operational costs thanks to reduced weight, size and energy consumption.