IP Talk Corp is a telecom carrier under the wing of Mitsubishi Electric Corp and it provides an Internet phone service called “IP Talk.” After developing a prototype of a voice over IP (VoIP) mobile phone using wireless LAN in 2002, the company unveiled a plan to start a “wireless IP phone service,” which enables use of IP Talk on the street via wireless LAN access services, within 2003.
IP Talk, a subsidiary of electronics firm Mitsubishi Electric, will sell a phone that works on voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) only. It will operate only when in the hotspot of a Wi-Fi (802.11b) access point, according to Nikkei Electronics Asia Online.
I received some interesting commentary last week from Kennedy Gitchel, self-described “Long-time Japan resident and wireless watcher” and — until recently — consultant at a major foreign consulting house. Gitchel was responding to a recent WWJ Viewpoint wherein we stated “the cost of fixed-line access plays very little or **no** part in Japan’s mobile Net boom,” to point out that the initial total cost of fixed line access is, in fact, a hefty proposition when you consider both the cost of installing a new phone line and monthly fees together.
