Japan Market
Japan Market

Japan Market

3G FOMA Subscribers Top 30 Million

NTT DoCoMo has just announced that the number of subscribers to their 3G FOMA service surpassed the 30 million mark on November 4, 2006. According to the statement, DoCoMo plans to increase the number of FOMA base stations by 1.5 times year on year by the end of the fiscal year ending March 2007 and aims to expand the coverage area for HSDPA 3.5G, which provides significantly faster speed than the current W-CDMA based data transmission, while developing more new compatible handset models.

Cellphones to Translate Japanese-English

Advanced Telecommunication Research Institute International (ATR), a private laboratory in Seikacho, Kyoto Prefecture, has recently developed Internet software for cell phones that translates Japanese sentences into English and vice versa. Major cell phone firms plan to introduce the software as part of their new services by the end of the year. Software for Chinese translations will be available next spring.

Amp'd Mobile Content Coming to Japan

Amp’d Mobile, announced it will deliver much of its mobile entertainment content to Japan via a new portal service designed exclusively for Tokyo-based KDDI/au. The service is expected to launch in March of 2007. Services will include Amp’d Music, Videos, Games, Sports, and Lifestyle content. The company has stated it will also open a satellite studio office in Japan that will contribute locally-produced materials to enhance their service.

New Flexibility of Cell Phones

The much-awaited portable-number service for cell phones has started in Japan, enabling users to change carriers without having to change phone numbers. This is a new convenience for customers, but for the cell-phone carriers – NTT DoCoMo Inc., KDDI Corp. and Softbank Mobile Corp. – it heralds the start of a new war. The ease with which users can change carriers is expected to cause fierce competition. It is hoped that the competition will lead to lower fees, better services and more user options.

SoftBank Halts New MNP Customers

Japanese mobile phone carrier Softbank Mobile Corp., which slashed its prices last week to undercut rivals, said it had to stop taking new applications Sunday because it was flooded by new customers wanting to switch to its service. Softbank stopped accepting new customers shortly after noon Sunday when its computer system couldn’t handle the load, the company said in a news release. It apologized to customers and promised to resume taking switch-over business when it readies the system for increased volume.