2002-14
2002-08-19

The Nikkei Business Daily reports that PHS (personal Handyphone system), "once considered to have lost out in competition with cellular phones, is drawing renewed attention" and is staging a comeback as a low-cost data communications service. DDI Pocket, Japan's largest PHS service operator, "is enjoying strong demand for the unlimited fixed-rate data-communications service it launched in June 2001. A growing number of companies plan to follow suit by leasing a PHS network from DDI Pocket". DDI Pocket began leasing its PHS network to other firms after the wholesaling of telecom networks was allowed last year. According to MPHPT the combined number of subscribers to cellular phone and PHS services stood at 76.91 million at the end of July, accounting for 60.3% of Japan's population.

Broadband Internet services in Japan generally offer higher quality and more customer satisfaction than similar services in other countries, according to a study by InfoCom Research, Inc. The Tokyo-based telecommunications research company compared speeds (maximum downlinks) and prices of major ADSL services in Japan, the U.S. and South Korea. While both 1.5 and 8 Mbps services were available in Japan and South Korea, the standard in the U.S. was speeds of only 700 Kbps and 1.5 Mbps. The number of ADSL subscribers has been increasing rapidly – from 500,000 in August 2001 to over 3.6 million by the end of July 2002.

The Nihon Keizai Shimbun quotes government sources that MPHPT plans to allow more companies, such as Internet-access and software firms, to launch mobile phone Net services by fall 2002 and that the ministry aims to work out the necessary specifics in the current fiscal year.

"The ministry believes if there are as many companies in the business as there are in computer-based Internet services, the resulting competition will bring down fees and help make services like the transmission of images more widely available", it adds.

A new scam getting the government’s attention is "wan-giri" or one ring which involves callers setting their computers to call mobile phones randomly and rapidly, hanging up after a single ring in the hope that the call will be returned". The Asahi Shimbun reports that unsuspecting recipients who call back are connected to pornographic services for which they are charged lot of money.

NTT’s three major subsidiaries are launching Internet Telephony Services, with NTT Communications starting it this month and targeting individual users. NTT East and NTT West need to seek government approval to start similar telecom services. NTT Communications' new service will be offered to users of its OCN Internet-access service, and will initially require a personal computer and headphones. It will also feature a videophone capability.