Japan Market
Japan Market

Japan Market

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.

Cell Phones Aggregate Tourist Info

Cell phones were used in the first experiment of its kind in Japan to transmit and receive sightseeing information in Kuwana, Mie Prefecture. The experiment was conducted by six companies, including an aeronautical map manufacturer and a cell phone company, under the auspices of the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry. Given the growing participation in the Wiki-series of content-from-all, content-for-all open-editing projects, mobilers in Japan may just be onto something.

DoCoMo Ending Prepaid Phones

NTT DoCoMo plans to stop accepting new subscribers for its prepaid mobile phone services by the end of March as they are increasingly used in crimes, company officials said Tuesday. Prepaid cellphones under existing contracts can be used for the time being, but NTT DoCoMo plans to discontinue prepaid mobile phone services after a transitional period of two to three years. DoCoMo had 81,000 prepaid cellphone subscribers as of the end of last year, accounting for only 3 percent of overall prepaid phone users.

Vodafone K.K. to Sponsor Urawa Reds Football Team

Vodafone K.K. today announces that it has agreed on a main partner sponsorship agreement with the Urawa Red Diamonds (Urawa Reds) football club in the J.League Division 1 (J1) for a two year period starting with the 2005 season. As part of the main partnership agreement, the Vodafone logo will feature on the front of the Urawa Reds shirts [Photo]. With this new partnership, Vodafone K.K. plans to deliver special Vodafone live! content to customers, develop merchandise featuring the logos of Vodafone and the Urawa Reds and hold events at stadiums and Vodafone shops.

Softbank Offers to Buy Tu-Ka Mobile

Softbank Corp. has offered to acquire the three Tu-Ka mobile operators from KDDI Corp. for more than 200 bn yen. The Nihon Keizai Shimbun said on Saturday that the three are Tu-Ka Cellular Tokyo Inc., Tu-Ka Cellular Tokai Inc. and Tu-Ka Phone Kansai Inc.

Ed’s Note: The Tu-Kas have a total of 3.5 million customers and an established PDC 2G network; this offer might prove to be a more effective mobile-market entry plan for Softbank than going through the courts for 3G spectrum. Watch to see how KDDI reacts.

Japan Carriers' December Stats

The December 2004 subscriber stats for Japan’s cellcos came out yesterday and the year-end numbers made two points quite clear: KDDI/au beat DoCoMo for the most net adds in 2004 and and Vodafone KK is still struggling. Looking a little deeper, we note that Big D’s mass-subscriber migration to 3G is starting to kick in with almost 1 million customers coming ‘up to speed’ in December alone; meanwhile Vodafone’s live! wireless Internet service actually saw a net decrease in users last month (by 700) while the two competitors added some 200,000 users to their i-mode and EZweb services.

Vodafone's Shift to 3G Phones

Vodafone K.K. President Shiro Tsuda said Wednesday the Japanese unit of British mobile phone service company Vodafone Group PLC will encourage its customers to shift to 3G handsets for faster data communications. “Vodafone will offer its last 2G handset next year and no more 2G later,” Tsuda said in an interview with Kyodo News.

ESPN Coming to Japan Mobile

ESPN and The Walt Disney Internet Group are to launch the Japanese version of X Games Mobile, a new content-based service for wireless consumers. KDDI and Vodafone have agreed to make X Games Mobile available to their customers. X Games Mobile will offer X Games-branded content including news and information, screensavers, ring tones, wallpaper, photos, logos, and streaming audio and video.

Japan's Phones Are Coolest

When NTT DoCoMo unveiled its latest third-generation mobile phones on Nov. 17, gadget lovers were not disappointed. The new handsets, manufactured by five leading Japanese electronics makers, can download videos, play games, pay for groceries at convenience stores, and work as remote controls for TVs and other devices. Oh — they also make and receive phone calls. “This is the epitome of a 3G phone,” says Takeshi Natsuno, DoCoMo’s managing director for multimedia services. Not to be upstaged, Japan’s other carriers are putting the finishing touches on their own new phones, featuring everything from music downloads to international video-calling on super-sharp color displays.