A glimpse of cell phones to come
The Nation (Thailand)
December 17, 2002
The Nation.
Sirivish Toomgum examines why the Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) 2000 1 x
cellular phone service is so hip in Japan. A similar service will be introduced to Thai
consumers next year by Hutchison-CAT Wireless Multimedia.
Striding around the Shinjuku area of Tokyo or down the road beside Tokyo Tower, one
often comes across young couples taking photos of each other with the built-in camera
in their CDMA 2000 1 x handsets.
In the teeming streets of Tokyo, pedestrians are also regularly found scrolling through
city maps on their CDMA handsets, looking for shortcuts to their destinations. Such
scenes are commonplace in Japan, where cutting-edge handsets are the norm - and
cheap, averaging around Bt5,000 - and cool applications abound.
The high-speed technology of the CDMA 2000 1 x serves both tech-junkies and
tech-novices alike. Thai consumers will have a chance to use the same technology by
early next year, when it will be launched here by Hutchison-CAT Wireless Multimedia.
The fourth major cell-phone firm is a joint venture of Hong Kong telecom giant Hutchison
Telecom and the Communications Authority of Thailand (CAT).
Currently, there are around 18 operators of the CDMA 2000 1 x system serving 16 million
users worldwide.
The CDMA 2000 1 x system, which uses third-generation (3G) mobile phone technology,
enables data transmission at the rate of 144 kilobits per second via its handsets, twice
as fast as the basic CDMA system (CDMA One).
In Japan, the second-largest cell-phone player, KDDI, is the only provider of the CDMA
2000 1 x service on top of its CDMA One system. A rival 3G service, W-CDMA, is being
offered by the biggest Japanese cell-phone operator, NTT DoCoMo.
Another major cell-phone player, J-Phone, is expected to launch a similar W-CDMA
service this month. KDDI's cellular phone services are marketed under the "au" (access
to you) brand.
Since launching CDMA 2000 1 x in April this year, KDDI had clinched around 3.8 million
users as of last month, an indication of how hip it is compared to NTT DoCoMo, which in
the same period reported 149,000 users of its W-CDMA service, better known as FOMA.
The latter kicked off in October last year.
Ted Matsumoto, president of Qualcomm Japan, said that one reason for KDDI's success
is that existing CDMA One users have been able to share the CDMA 2000 1 x network
and service since day one.
More, the handset prices of both technologies are very close, encouraging migration to
the CDMA 2000 1 x.
Qualcomm Japan is a subsidiary of US-based Qualcomm, the pioneer and licensor of
CDMA technology.
KDDI also offers a large number of attractive services, including photo-mail, karaoke and
video-phone services. Another hit is the famous Global Positioning Service-based GPS
One, said Jun Yamada, executive director of Qualcomm Japan.
KDDI offers more than 80 GPS One services. Among the more popular ones are a map of
gourmet restaurants and a town guide, he said. Another of its "hipster" services is the
ring tone service Chaku-Uta, allowing users to download songs in their original format to
use them as handset ring tones.
Toshio Okihashi, senior executive vice president of KDDI's "au" business, said KDDI also
has around 2,000 applications and an army of partners to provide them.
Application partners receive full payment for the services they supply to KDDI, and do
not have to participate in the kind of revenue-sharing schemes used by other services.
One Thai teen studying in Japan said that "au" is the most popular among the Thai
students, thanks to its offering of a 50-per-cent discount to all student subscribers who
agree to stay with the service for a fixed period. "Its data-sending charge is also low,"
he said. Yamada added that KDDI also has a clever market penetration strategy, offering
the data applications prior to the actual launch of the system to allow users to get
familiar with the functionality at a relatively low speed. Then it will offer them a
higher-speed service, on which they can use the applications with which they are
already familiar.
KDDI expects the number of its CDMA 2000 1 x users will expand following the debut of
its CDMA EV DO service early next year.
Hutchison-CAT is also set to deliver a similar service here soon.
The EV DO technology enables a maximum data-transmission speed of 2.4 megabits per
second.
What do these developments say about Hutchison-CAT's future moves in Thailand?
Up till now, Hutchison-CAT has been tight-lipped about its commercial services. One
telecom industry observer said that if it is able to offer the affordable cutting-edge
handsets and low-cost data-sending charge that KDDI has, its service could easily
become the norm among Thais. |
