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| The NTT Split-up |
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| While competition was created in long-distance telephony services, local phone services continued to be monopolized by the privatized NTT. Calls to split up NTT arose from competitors as well as from the authorities in charge of telecommunication policies. This debate continued for more than 10 years after NTT's privatization. NTT was finally split up into three companies in 1999 under a holding company; they are: NTT Communications, which handles long-distance and international phone services, and NTT East and NTT West, which handle regional telephone services. The mobile phone carrier NTT DoCoMo was split off from NTT early on, in 1992. The telecommunications market was opened to foreign investors as well, and British Telecom, AT&T, Cable and Wireless, and other companies entered the market through means such as equity participation, but the foreign companies retreated, one by one, from the market due to intense market competition. |
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| The Explosive i-mode Boom in Japan |
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| In 2004, mobile phone ownership exceeded 80 million terminals in Japan. Although mobile phone services had begun in 1979 as a car-phone service, it was not until 1994 that the mobile phone market exploded in Japan. This was through the new competition created by the allotment of frequencies to digital mobile phones. Another cause of the explosive growth of the market was i-mode, a mobile phone service that enables Internet access. Mobile Internet underwent a unique development in Japan with users accessing online services offering such features as ring melody distribution (users download a favorite tune to use as a ring melody), game distribution and even train schedule distribution. Meanwhile, Japanese youths became adept at using a phone's numeric key pad to write e-mail messages to send via their mobile phones. Mobile phones equipped with digital camera features also proved popular among the young. The integration of the Internet and mobile phones is proceeding at a swift pace. |
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| A great variety of content providers for mobile phones also appeared. Success was achieved by utilizing the billing services of mobile phone carriers and others, and by setting prices at an affordable monthly price of just a few hundred yen. Companies that expanded their operations through such services are beginning to advance overseas. |
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