According to the Nikkei, via Reuters, Sanyo Electric will unload its handset sales unit in a deal that could be worth up to 10 billion yen ($85 million). Telecom Sanyo operates 60 retail stores in Japan and serves as a sales agent for DoCoMo and other mobile operators. It offers handsets made by Sanyo as well as other mobile phone producers, the newspaper said.
The CIAJ has released their annual report on cellular phone trends in Japan. This year’s study focuses on market trends in handset replacement purchases since the launch of number portability (MNP), the uses of 3G handsets, changes in viewing trends of one-segment digital tv broadcasts with the abundant availability of compatible handsets and interest in other functions, such as m-commerce.
According to Bloomberg, KDDI announced their first-quarter profit rose 9 percent with net income climbing to 82.5 billion yen ($682 million), or 18,483 yen a share, in the three months ended June 30, from 75.6 billion yen, or 17,296 yen, a year earlier. Operating profit, or sales minus the cost of goods sold and administrative expenses, climbed 16 percent to 140.9 billion yen.
Tech-On has posted an interview with Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., China’s leading telecom equipment manufacturer, who have set up an exhibit – for the first time ever in Japan – at this years Wireless Japan tradeshow. Huawei is one of the most technology-oriented companies in China with sales at an annual growth rate of 40% that are expected to surpass 1 trillion yen in 2007.
Rakuten, which runs Japan’s biggest online mall, with nearly 40 million users and sales last year of ¥460 billion, or $1.6 billion is gearing up to launch services in the U.K. according to this article on IHT. The e-tailer recently bought 54 percent of an Internet phone company in Japan with an eye to merging some telecommunications services with Internet shopping. Rakuten plans to trade on its own name by first opening an online store in Britain by the end of the year.
Several mainstream media reports indicate the powerful earthquake which struck northern Japan on Monday has caused disruption to communications services in the country. The earthquake struck just off the coast of Niigata prefecture, the magnitude 6.8 quake registered an intensity of 6+ on Japan’s scale of 0 to 7, in three locations. As a result of the temblor major telecommunications carriers have imposed restrictions on phone calls into and out of the affected area.
