KDDI Posts 3Q Results
The IR Dept. at KDDI has just posted the company’s 3Q financial results. Watch the webcast presentation by President Tadashi Onodera in English here; access subscriber figures and other data here.
Shutting Down Prepaid Phones
Kyodo; Vodafone K.K. has begun unilaterally terminating services for prepaid mobile phones that have been used in fraudulent billing and other crimes, company officials said Tuesday. The ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner, the New Komeito party, plan to submit to the Diet a bill requiring users of prepaid mobile phones to provide personal identification documents at the time of subscription. Still, the measure is unlikely to enter into force until next year.
Vodafone K.K. 3Q '04 Fiscal Report
VODAFONE K.K. has announced its results for the first nine months of fiscal 2004. Consolidated operating revenue for the nine-month period ended 31 December 2004 was 1,102.8 billion yen, marking a 14.4% decline compared to the same period of fiscal 2003, due mainly to the exclusion of the fixed line telecommunication business in the second half of fiscal 2003. Total revenue for the mobile business declined by 3.4% compared to the same period of the previous year. The full year forecast for fiscal 2004 remains unchanged.
DoCoMo Releases N901iC 3G Handset
DoCoMo just announced they will start selling the N901iC [.jpg image] 3G FOMA handset, the latest model in the 901i-series, nationwide on 28 January 2005. The 901i-series offers surround-type 3D sound for vivid ringing melodies and realistic audio effects when playing i-appli games or using other applications. The N901iC also has FeliCa smart-card technology for e-money, ticketing and other handy mobile functions.
WWJ Welcomes Shinnyushain
Yesterday, WWJ formally welcomed long-time Tokyo tech journalist Gail Nakada as host of our MobaHo! video interview. Gail did a fantastic job in front of the camera and kept the stressed corporate marketing guy on the spot with charm, wit and a bunch of insightful questions proving this is one WWJ journo not to be messed with.. 🙂
To be accurate, Gail isn’t really a ‘New Entering Company Employee’ (Shinnuyshain); she’s been contributing very cool stories to WWJ since late last fall, including an in-depth look at DoCoMo’s new designer models and a report on the mobile Web’s first cell-phone soap opera. We look forward to seeing more stories and videos in 2005!
Solar-Powered Wireless Testing
Oki Electric Industry Co. Ltd. began running an experimental ZigBee-based sensor network in Japan’s western port city of Kobe on Monday, the company said the same day. The company has installed a network of five solar battery-powered wireless terminals on streetlights and 15 terminals in the ceiling of a shopping mall in the city to test the networking capabilities of ZigBee technology, said Naomi Takeuchi, an Oki spokeswoman. ZigBee is a wireless system based on the 802.15.4 standard approved by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.