KDDI to tie up with Qualcomm/Cell phone TV
CELL PHONE BROADCASTING RUSH
KDDI Corp. will tie up with Qualcomm Inc., a U.S. wireless communication technology company, to start a broadcasting business for cell phones, sources said Thursday.
KDDI, a leading Japanese telecommunications company, will establish a planning firm for the new business with Qualcomm Japan, the Japanese arm of the U.S. company, by the end of this month, they said.
The joint venture, Media Flow Japan, will be capitalized at 10 million yen, of which 80 percent will be put up by KDDI and 20 percent by Qualcomm.
The joint venture will come up with plans for using Qualcomm's advanced wireless communication technologies for the envisaged broadcasting service.
The joint venture will ask the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry for a frequency assignment after considering the profitability and service contents of the new business, as well as a start date, according to the sources.
KDDI was expected to announce the tieup plan later in the day, the sources said.
Japanese television stations are to begin offering terrestrial digital broadcasting services custom-made for mobile phones next April in Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya and their surrounding areas, as well as in 13 prefectures mainly in eastern Japan.
In the "one-segment" broadcasting service, mobile phone users will be able to view programs at the same time as they are shown on ordinary TV.
But KDDI's envisaged services will also enable cell phone users to watch the programs afterward by storing them, the sources said.
San Diego, Calif.-based Qualcomm, established in 1985, is known for developing the world's first application technology for CDMA, which enables large volumes of data and audio communications for cellular phones.
The Japan Times: Dec. 23, 2005
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