WW-112 -- KDDI announces its new 3G services -- a 'WIN'ning concept?

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J@pan Inc presents the Wireless Watch Newsletter:

W I R E L E S S W A T C H

Commentary on Japan's Wireless World
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Wireless Watch Newsletter
Issue No. 112
Monday, November 10, 2003
TOKYO

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CONTENTS

>> Viewpoint: KDDI announces its new 3G services -- a 'WIN'ning concept?

=====** IRIS BAKER REPLIES FROM LONDON **========
32-year-old Briton Nick Baker sits in a Japanese prison,
charged with smuggling drugs into Japan -- an accusation he
vehemently denies.
Now his mother is speaking out, collecting signatures and
demanding a fair trial.

Get the entire feature story in the red-hot November issue
of J@pan Inc magazine:
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**Baker's mother, Iris, responds to J@pan Inc from London:
http://www.japaninc.com/feedback/letter/index.html?id=0083
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>> Viewpoint: KDDI announces its new 3G services -- a 'WIN'ning concept?

KDDI, Japan's second largest carrier, is set to launch their new
3G services on November 28. We visited KDDI in the company's new
headquarters near the massive Tokyo Dome to talk about their
very latest strategy.

Starting in the big three cities -- Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya --
the data network has been upgraded with CDMA2000 1X EV-DO, a tech-
nology that provides maximum download speeds of 2.4Mbit/s and upload
speeds of 144kbit/s. Common throughput speeds for downloads are
expected to be in the range 600-800kbit/s.

This larger network capacity enables the introduction of new content
services that are branded as "WIN." One of these services is called
"EZ-channel." The user can subscribe to movie channels with content
ranging from horse races to trailers for Hollywood's latest releases.

But EZ-channel is not a streaming service. The 5-minute movie clips
will be pushed to the user's handset after midnight, when network
traffic is low. The WIN service is also offered in areas where EV-DO
is not available yet. In addition to the numerous content channels,
users can view live video showing traffic conditions, weather
and tourist hot spots.

For heavy users, a flat price of 4,200 yen per month will be offered
for the usage of data services. According to KDDI, almost 13 percent
of its user base now spends more than 4,200 yen on packet fees.
Alternative packet fee rate plans based on data packet usage are
also available. The flat rate only applies to browsing EZ-services
and mail -- not to browsing the public Internet.

Unlike Vodafone, KDDI will not introduce analog TV phones. They have
good reasons for resisting. Battery life for these phones and the
quality of TV reception remain obstacles. The small portable TVs
marketed by Casio never became a hit in Japan, while the portable
walkman became hugely popular. KDDI therefore expects much more from
their radio phones. Once technology for digital TV phones is ready,
KDDI told us they would reconsider the introduction of TV services.

DoCoMo's team responsible for new 3G services will have a hard time
catching up with KDDI. During the past two years, DoCoMo has been
slow to introduce new services, while Vodafone and KDDI started
sha-mail, chaku-uta and TV/radio phone services. The FOMA network
and phones are not as sexy as the goodies recently unveiled by KDDI
and Vodafone.

Still, don't write DoCoMo off yet. Their larger potential 3G-market
will make it less difficult for them to attract media and
entertainment companies who can produce popular 3G-content.

But in the meantime, DoCoMo could learn a lot from keeping a close
eye on KDDI and Vodafone.

-- Arjen van Blokland

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STAFF
Written by Arjen van Blokland; Edited by Roland Kelts
(editors@japaninc.com)

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