Japan's KDDI, the second-biggest mobile phone operator in Japan after NTT DoCoMo, has announced it aims to offer a cellphone service to mainly Japanese customers (according to a spokesman) in the United States using a network operated by Sprint Nextel. Tokyo-based KDDI will offer services using CDMA standard, developed by Qualcomm, and adopted by U.S. carriers such as Verizon and Sprint Nextel. Japanese operators have been eyeing new sources of revenue abroad as they expect slower subscriber growth in the saturated home market. The Asahi newspaper said KDDI aimed for a full U.S. roll-out by the middle of this month, offering phones made by makers such as Sanyo Electric under the KDDI Mobile brand.
News source: eWeek
News source: eWeek
KDDi just wants the japanese who live here in the states to use Japanese phone that can type japanese and english, to feel like home. And Japanese phones are WAY better than US and a lot of phones cant be used in the states. So this news is a huge for Japanese or anyone who wants to use Japanese phones.
If only KDDi goes to Cingular
And I agree people will most likely use this to try sueing them
My one question is, if you have service through KDDI can you use the same service (and phone) in Japan as well?
Last edited by Gibwar on 09 Apr 2007 - 17:15
Sounds like nothing more than the arrangements that many carriers have with each other to allow global roaming - maintain the same carrier around the globe, which is good for business customers and good for KDDI, able to offer the same consistant services around the globe at the same price.
Don't be surprised if they do get some US customers, their main focus, however, will be existing KDDI customers who might have multiple carriers currently because of current network constraints.
Commenting has either been disabled on this article or you are not logged in. Click here to login or register, its free!
Note: Anonymous commenting is disabled in order to keep the quality of responses to a high standard.