Wireless Federation

Toshiba to deliver NFC-enabled SIM Cards to KDDI (Japan)

On 02.08.11, In Mobile, By Editor

Toshiba has stated that it will start the delivery of commercial User Identity Module (UIM) cards supporting Near Field Communication (NFC) to Japan’s KDDI Corp.

The newly developed UIM card consists of CDMA2000 and Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), and supports NFC, which is expected to go into the commercial service soon.

According to the company, the card was developed based on the latest specifications of the European Telecommunications Standards Institute-Smart Card Platform (ETSI SCP), GSMA and GlobalPlatform (GP). In addition to this, the card is compatible with GSMA’s Pay-Buy-Mobile programme and meets the security level required for international payment applications.

The card will allow the users to access services in such areas as electronic payment, transportation, personal identification, coupon redemption and more.

KDDI initiated verification testing on contactless IC technology subject to the ISO/IEC14443 Type A/B international standards in May 2010.

KDDI used handsets supporting NFC in order to verify the technical reliability and user-friendliness of the application systems including electronic payment. Toshiba, which started to develop a UIM card in 2009, participated in the testing in order to verify the reliability of the UIM card and to establish the technology.

Toshiba stated that it is ready to mass produce UIM cards for the global market and will promote UIM cards to MNO worldwide, including operators in Europe, the US and Asia.

KDDI cut 27% interconnection fees (Japan)

On 02.05.11, In Mobile, By Editor

Japan’s second largest carrier, KDDI Corp is cutting its mobile interconnection fee by 27.3%. The operator has informed the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) that the rate other mobile phone companies must pay to connect to its network for local calls will be reduced to US$0.0569 per minute for fiscal 2010, down from the previous year.

The new fees, which result from an amendment to the MIC’s interconnection guidelines, will be applied retroactively.

As per the new rules, telcos can no longer include their operating expenses as an element in their access fee calculations. Larger rival NTT DoCoMo Inc decided last month to slash access fees by up to 35.6%, and Softbank Corp also plans to reduce its fees as well. The move by the mobile carriers could lead to lower call rates for end users.

Filed under:Mobile Tagged with: Japan • KDDI Corp • Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) • Mobile • NTT DoCoMo Inc. • retroactively

DoCoMo, Softbank vying for mobile TV service

On 12.06.10, In Mobile, By Editor

NTT DoCoMo, Softbank Corp and four other companies are reportedly vying for rights to provide new broadcasting services for portable digital devices in the country.

According to reports, the six firms the other participants being KDDI Corp, Nagase Brothers Inc, Gourmet Navigator Inc and an anonymous company have informed the Ministry of Communications of their interest, which is formulating its blueprint for the services.

As per reports, with mobile TV services due to be launched in April 2012, the ministry is currently assessing the number of service providers it will allow and the frequencies they will use once analogue TV broadcasts are switched off in July. It is understood that Nagase is mulling plans to use mobile TV to offer a remote educational platform, while Gourmet Navigator may use the service to promote restaurants by allowing viewers to download discount coupons for establishments covered.

Filed under:Mobile Tagged with: DoCoMo • Gourmet Navigator Inc • KDDI Corp • Ministry of Communications • Mobile • Mobile TV Service • Nagase Brothers Inc • Softbank

DoCoMo expects Smartphone Sales to Beat Target (Japan)

On 10.28.10, In Mobile, By Editor

The President of NTT DoCoMo Inc, Ryuji Yamada claims that the company which is Japan’s largest mobile-phone operator may possibly beat its full-year smartphone sales target by as much as 30%, helped by models running Google Inc.’s Android software.

According to Yamada, the company sold about 600,000 smartphones in the six months ended Sept. 30. The Tokyo- based company previously forecast sales of smartphones will reach 1 million units in the year ending March 31.

According to Tokyo- based MM Research Institute Ltd, DoCoMo, KDDI Corp., Japan’s second-largest carrier, and Softbank Corp., the country’s exclusive provider of Apple Inc.’s iPhone, are expanding their smartphone lines with Android models to meet demand for data communications and offset falling revenue from voice services. The iPhone dominates the smartphone market in Japan with a 60% share.

Filed under:Mobile Tagged with: Android Software • Apple • Google Inc • iPhone • Japan • KDDI Corp • MM Research Institute Ltd • Mobile • NTT DoCoMo Inc. • President • Ryuji Yamada • smartphone • Softbank Corp

KDDI selects Motorola IPTV set-top box (Japan)

On 05.29.10, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Motorola’s new VIP2060 high-definition IPTV set-top boxes has been selected by Japan’s second largest telecoms group by revenues, KDDI Corp for customers of its fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) services.

â€˜Au Hikari’ users will avail the facility of the boxes from June 2 which is capable of supporting broadband connections of up to 1Gbps.

The Motorola VIP2060 supports DVR and time-shift functions, supports both terrestrial and satellite TV broadcast services and includes 500GB hard drive.

Filed under:Mobile Tagged with: ASIA • FTTH • IPTV • Japan • KDDI Corp • Motorola

KDDI operating revenue declines by 1.6% (Japan)

On 04.26.10, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: 1.6% year-on-year decline in the consolidated operating revenues for the fiscal year to March 31 2010 has been reported by Japan’s second largest telecoms operator KDDI Corp. The net income of the company also went down 4.5% from the previous year to JPY212.8 billion due to restructuring costs related to streamlining of fixed line business ETECSA mobile subs to top one million by year-end and because of an extra- ordinary loss of one-off JPY61.1 billion (USD656.3 million.

With 9.9% year-on-year decline, the full-year consolidated CAPEX of the company went down from JPY575.1 billion a year earlier to JPY518 billion in the year to March 31, 2010. Even the operating revenues at KDDI’s fixed line business also dipped 1.1% y-o-y to JPY839.2 billion. Fixed line EBITDA grew 15% y-o-y to JPY94.7 billion.

The fibre-to-the home (FTTH) increased to 1.513 million from 1.099 million at March 31, 2010 while it had a total of 5.94 million fixed access lines. Besides the company also had 2.852 million Metal-plus telephony users, 1.031 million ADSL connections, 960,000 Cable-plus phone users and 972,000 CATV users on the same date.

Filed under:Mobile Tagged with: ADSL • ASIA • CAPEX • E-Plus • EBITDA • ETECSA • FTTH • Japan • KDDI • KDDI Corp • operator

KDDI share price slips 4.1% on Tokyo Stock Exchange

On 04.20.10, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The share price of Japan’s second largest telecoms operator KDDI Corp has slipped 4.1% to JPY454,500 (USD4,934.60) on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. This has been its lowest price since November 12 last year when the net income of the company declined by 4.6% to JPY212.5 billion.

The fall in the share price has been attributed to an unexpected fall in net income due to restructuring at the telco’s fixed line business. Earlier it was predicted that the FY2009/10 net profit of the firm will be around JPY225 billion and the forecast was made while publishing preliminary earnings statement after markets closed on April 16.

According to the company, its operating profit for the period under review was JPY443.5 billion, little changed from the previous year, but below the JPY470 billion figure it forecast in January. Revenue declined 1.6% year-on-year to JPY3.44 trillion. The final earning figure of the company will be reported on April 23, 2010.

Filed under:Mobile Tagged with: ASIA • Japan • KDDI Corp • operator

DoCoMo tops the chart of net subscriber gains

On 04.08.10, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Maximum gain in the net new subscriber has been reported by Japan’s NTT DoCoMo in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2010. For the first time in four years, DoCoMo has topped the pile.

1.481 million new contracts have been signed up by DoCoMo which was majorly driven by the popularity of handsets that can be linked to PCs for data communications purposes.

DoCoMo’s gain has pushed Softbank Mobile into second position which reported a net increase of more than 1.243 million new users. For the past two years, Softbank has been leading in the chart. Softbank has been followed by KDDI Corp with a net increase of 1.029 million. Fourth place has been claimed by eMobile with 941,600 subscribers. PHS operator Willcom Inc on the other hand, posted a net decrease of 450,900 subscribers over the period under review.

Filed under:Mobile Tagged with: ASIA • Japan • KDDI Corp • NTT DoCoMo • operator • PHS operator Willcom • Softbank

Bharti launches undersea cable between Japan & US

On 04.05.10, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: An undersea cable between Japan and west coast of the US has been launched by a global consortium having Indian telco Bharti Airtel as a member. The arrangement will provide high-capacity bandwidth access across the Pacific. Global Transit, Google, KDDI Corp, Pacnet and SingTel are the other members of the consortium.

The announcement of the construction of the 9,620 km submarine cable system was made for the first time in February 2008 and the cable system was build at the cost of USD 300 million. According to Bharti Airtel Executive Director-Enterprise Services Rajan Swaroop, the construction is in line with the company’s vision to offer multiple paths and create a robust undersea cable infrastructure for customers and Unity cable system will provide enhanced and seamless global connectivity, as it is connected to other cable systems further enhancing connectivity to Asia.

In order to expand its global network through its ownership of ‘i2i’ submarine cable system, Bharti made an investment in Unity. The cable is designed to deliver up to 4.8 Terabits per second (Tbps) of bandwidth across the Pacific, with each fibre pair having a capacity of up to 960 Gigabits per second.

Filed under:Mobile Tagged with: ASIA • Bharti Airtel • Global Consortium • Google • India • Japan • KDDI Corp • Launch • SingTel

DoCoMo tops chart after seven years (Japan)

On 03.08.10, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: With an addition of 148,300 new subscribers last month, Japan’s largest mobile operator by subscribers and revenues, NTT DoCoMo has reclaimed the top spot from Softbank Mobile for the first time in seven months. The subscribers gain by the telco is biggest gain of any of the country’s cellcos.

According to the company, the strong performance was the result of its data communication modems and discount billing programmes which helped entice customers to sign up to its services.

On the other hand, net 145,800 customers were added by the third largest player by subscribers, Softbank and 121,400 were gained by second-placed KDDI Corp. PHS operator Willcom lost 69,600 on the previous month, closing February with 4.171 million users.