TOKYO - New competition is coming to the rich but hard-to-penetrate Japanese mobile phone market, as the government decides to allot unused bandwidth to three new wireless players, Softbank, eAccess and IP Mobile.
On Wednesday, the Japanese ministry that oversees communications said it would allow the three local companies to offer new mobile services as early as next year.
There are high hopes among many in the industry that these aspiring new carriers will shake up Japan's cellular market, which is now divided among three large carriers: NTT DoCoMo, KDDI and Vodafone, which is based in London. The decision on Wednesday marked the first time in 11 years that the government had opened bandwidth to new carriers.
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International Herald Tribune
Nov 10, 2005, 01:07 AM
