Telecommunications

October 2005

Cell Phones to Require GPS Tech from 2007 to Pinpoint Emergency Calls
The government will require mobile phone companies to install global positioning technology in handsets sold from April 2007 so that the police or other authorities can automatically pinpoint the provenance of an emergency call, government sources said Monday. The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications will amend related ordinances by the end of the year. The legislation will require the companies to use unified technology. Unlike with fixed-line phones, emergency calls via mobile phones cannot be automatically traced to a location, meaning the caller must explain where he or she is. Because the caller is often in a state of panic when making the call, the authorities sometimes have difficulty getting the information quickly and accurately. The ministry envisions the system enabling the police or fire authorities to be able to pinpoint a caller's location with an accuracy of within 15 meters. The police receive about 9 million emergency calls a year, with more than half made via mobile phones. The greater use of cell phones is thought to be the reason why the police took an average of 1.5 minutes longer to arrive at the scene of an emergency in 2003 than in 1999. (The Nihon Keizai Shimbun, October 24, 2005)

KDDI to Cut Number of Ground Stations for Low-Cost Phone Service
KDDI Corp. will reduce the number of transmission stations it plans to build by the end of March 2006 for its "Metal Plus" low-cost fixed-line phone service by 400 to 1,400 nationwide, it has been learned. Explaining the reason for the change, KDDI President Tadashi Onodera said, "It is taking us longer to open the stations than expected." Opening a station requires coordination with the telephone exchanges of rival Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. Despite the expected reduction, KDDI still plans to have 2.2 million lines available for the service by the end of March next year. The telecom carrier will make each of its stations handle more lines in suburban areas located outside large cities, where demand for the service is high. (The Nihon Keizai Shimbun, October 24, 2005)

Windows-Based PHS To Hit Japan Market
Microsoft Corp., Sharp Corp. and Willcom Inc., a PHS service operator, will unveil on Thursday a high-performance PDA-type handset using Windows Mobile as its operating system. The terminal can be easily linked with a personal computer, enabling users to quickly download business documents, e-mail, personal schedules and other data from a PC to bring with them. Microsoft, which is trying to spread the use of Windows in mobile devices, aims to explore the Japanese market by teaming up with Willcom, operator of a flat-rate personal handyphone system service, and Sharp, a major player in the domestic market for personal digital assistants. Cell phones installed with the Windows Mobile operating system are sold in the U.S. and Europe, but they have yet to be marketed in Japan. Sharp, which developed the handsets, has seen sales of its key Zaurus PDAs slow due to competition from increasingly smaller PCs and more sophisticated cell phones. Zaurus sales in Japan fell 39.8% to 301,000 units in 2004, according to market research firm Gartner Japan Ltd. By joining forces with Microsoft and Willcom, Sharp hopes to regain lost ground in the Japanese market for mobile devices. Willcom has been enjoying a brisk net increase in subscriptions of 60,000 to 80,000 a month thanks to its new flat-rate plans for voice and data communications. In July, the company announced it would release a communications module in the form of a small card with a built-in antenna that, the firm claimed, will enable firms unfamiliar with wireless communications technology to develop PHS handsets. (The Nihon Keizai Shimbun, October 18, 2005)

JCB, KDDI, Others To Promote Credit Purchases Via Cell Phones
JCB Co., KDDI Corp. and eight other companies have agreed to establish a council to promote a standardized system for handling credit purchases using cellular phones. The council will discuss standards based on a technology JCB developed for conducting credit card transactions using noncontact-type smart cards. JCB's specifications will be made public to council members, and discussions will be held on the development of readers as well as linking the service with other methods of credit purchases. The credit card companies and wireless phone firms that make up the council realize that jointly developing a next-generation transaction system will be less costly than going it alone. In addition, a common platform will avoid the confusion retailers and consumers would face if there were many incompatible systems. Although the council will begin with a core membership of 10 companies, the goal is to gain around 50 members before it holds its first general meeting. NTT DoCoMo Inc. is being asked to join.
(The Nihon Keizai Shimbun, October 8, 2005)