AirTouch, Nissan, Japan Telecom Form Phone Venture (Update2)
Bloomberg News
December 1, 1998, 12:55 a.m. PT
Tokyo, Dec. 1 (Bloomberg) -- AirTouch Communications
Inc., the world's largest cellular phone company, agreed with
Japan Telecom Co. and Nissan Motor Co. to form a joint
cellular phone venture.
The venture, capitalized at 200 million yen ($1.6
million), is aimed at developing a next generation cell phone
that would send moving pictures and speed up transmission of
large amounts of data, according to a joint statement from the
companies.
AirTouch will take a 26 percent stake in the company, to
be called IMT-2000 Planning Corp. Japan Telecom, an
international and domestic long-distance phone carrier, will
take 40 percent and Nissan, Japan's second largest automaker
behind Toyota Motor Corp., 34 percent.
''Japan is an interesting market for us,'' said Kenneth
Tietz, vice president of AirTouch International, an
international arm of the San Francisco-based company.
''Wireless usage is growing faster in Japan than any other
place, and it has become almost a part of people's life.''
Tietz said he expects mobile traffic to account for 25
percent of all Japan's telecommunications traffic measured by
minutes by 2005. In particular, growth in demand for data
transmission will speed up, he said.
AirTouch has a stake in two cellular phone companies in
Japan -- Digital Phone and Digital TU-KA, in which Japan
Telecom also has a stake. Nissan owns about 23 percent in the
Digital TU-KA group of companies.
Japan Telecom Senior Managing Director Kouzo Suzuki said
the joint venture is seeking to become one of only three
operators to whom the government will give a license to
provide next generation cellular phone services.
The three companies will seek more partners as the
venture needs to invest as much as 600 billion yen, he said.
British Telecommunications Plc has said it's interested
in taking a stake in a Japanese company that would provide
next generation cellular phone service.
Nissan
Japanese media reported earlier this month Nissan is
selling its 10 percent stake in Tokyo Telecommunications
Network Co., or TTNet, which provides cut-rate fixed phone
services in the Tokyo region.
Nissan hasn't confirmed the report, though Shuji Ishii,
general manager for Nissan's mobile communications business,
said today the company will focus its telecommunications
investment on the mobile business rather than fixed phone
services.
''Mobile telecommunications services are linked with auto
businesses and that is important for us,'' Ishii said. ''We
would choose the mobile business over fixed phone services for
investment.''
Next Generation Phone
Japanese cellular phone operators are developing an
advanced cellular phone standard, as capacity for sending data
under the current standard -- PDC, or Personal Digital
Cellular -- is limited.
Japan Telecom is developing a standard called W-CDMA, or
Wideband-Code Division Multiple Access, which it says will
allow high-capacity data transfer and clearer voice
transmission.
NTT Mobile Communications Network Inc., Japan's largest
cellular phone operator, is developing an alternative version
of W-CDMA. The two companies aim to introduce the service by
the spring of 2001.
Japan Telecom shares fell 26,000 yen to 813,000. Nissan
Motor rose 15 yen to 395.
--Junko Fujita in the Tokyo newsroom (813) 3201-8211 /JA
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Regards, Dave
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