PHONE WARS, WIRELESS SPECTRUM
KEYWORDS: DEREGULATION, CELL PHONES, 3G, PREPAID,

An amendment to the Telecommunications Business Law taking effect in April, 2004 permitted phone companies to negotiate prices directly with customers. IP telephony services is expected to provide steeply discounted long distance services. New entrants to the field will simply have to notify the government, with no license being required now. The distinction under the law between phone companies with their own facilities, and those leasing it from other companies has been dropped.

Due to the increasing rise of cellular phone services and IP phones hurting fixed line services such that NTT, the long dominant phone company, is considering dropping its fixed line telephone service subscription fee deposit that was required in order to obtain a telephone line. Costing hundreds of dollars per line, the amounts were so massive for large companies it became a regular item on corporate balance sheets as an intangible fixed asset.

Japan is giving serious consideration to becoming the first nation in the world to ban prepaid cell phone sales. Prepaid phones have proven to be a key tool, together with the buying and selling of bank accounts, in the “it’s me” scandal that has swept Japan, victimizing many elderly people in particular. The European Business Community in Japan (a kind of chamber of commerce) criticized the move as only 0.1% of prepaid phones were involved in such crimes. Considering the size of the scam however…

Softbank, Japan’s revolutionary internet firm famous for starting Yahoo Japan, etc. has filed suit against the Japanese government to gain permission to also enter the market for 3G mobile phone services in Japan. The Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications had previously announced it would be licensing NTT Docomo and KDDI for 3G mobile phone services in Japan.

The Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications announced that it is considering imposing fees on usage of wireless spectrum usage for appliances as well as for high bandwidth wireless local area networks.  It plans an amendment to the Radio Law to achieve this and reasons that mobile phones are charged usage fees so these applications should be charged as well. Fees would be paid when the appliances are purchased.

Copyright 2005. All rights reserved Attorney Roderick H. Seeman

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