Paul, here are some comments:
> You can still get new Tuka's (at least last time I checked 3
> months ago)
> from any TuKa shop! Although I've always been afraid they will close
> for good.... Its been worrying me for 5 or more years..waiting for
> that
> dreaded day. They are very cheap. but you could be right, they
> may not be giving out new contracts anymore
TuKa uses a PDC network. PDC is controlled by NTT which is
the No.1 competitor of KDDI/AU. KDDI used to own a second
PDC network, and they switched it off years ago. When you look
at the subscriber #s you will see that KDDI is at present
aggressively moving TuKa users over to AU. I guarantee you
that KDDI will switch of the TuKa network in the very near future.
TuKa is not a separate company anymore.
TuKa were three separate companies until last summer.
Summer 2005, KDDI totally absorbed TuKa, there is no TuKa
company any more, its just part of KDDI since last summer.
> There are other PHSes besides Willcom and Yahoo.
Yes and no.
No: Yahoo operators no PHS and I think never will.
There are a number of separate companies which is what is
left of ASTEL, but you can forget them. They have about 50,000
users nationwide, I think they will soon stop.
> I know but
> I've never checked out the brands, as it does not interest me.
> Willcom
> and Yahoo are the newcomers....
NO!!!
Yahoo has nothing in PHS.
Willcom is not a newcomer. Willcom used to be part of KDDI, called
DDI-Pocket, underwent a management buyout, and is presently
being turned round, because it looses money. Looks like they will
win the turn-round.
> I don't think those two are PHS, but they
> might be. I think DoCoMo has PHS service, and something like
> PowerAstel
> used to be one of the PHS providers. Its all quite complex.
Not complex at all. ASTEL you can forget, They are almost gone.
DoCoMo has PHS, but they will terminate the PHS service very soon.
They don't accept any new users for PHS and make no more investment.
I forgot when they end PHS service but its quite soon.
We have a detailed overview of Japan's telecom industry in our JCOM
report:
http://www.eurotechnology.com/store/jcomm/
Gerhard
http://www.eurotechnology.com/
Received on Tue Apr 18 07:20:28 2006