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Technology Stocks : Qualcomm Moderated Thread - please read rules before posting -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Cooters who wrote (8928)	3/22/2001 11:27:26 AM
From: straight life	Respond to of 197468

Resurgent competitor technology? (apologies if previously posted...) Asia & Pacific: Who needs imode? 01 January 2001 totaltele.com The success of Docomo's imode service in Japan meant that the personal handyphone system quickly became ignored. Now Japan and other Asian countries are starting to realise its strengths again. By Charles Dodgson. The Personal Handyphone System, or phs, is a technology which can function as a cordless phone in the home, a mobile phone elsewhere and can handle voice, fax, and video signals. But the staggering success of the imode service means it has been consigned by some to the dustbin of history. Now there is a resurgence of demand amongst Japanese business users demanding better voice quality and decent download speeds, while Docomo and IBM have launched new consumer data services to meet the renewed demand. And it is seeing a new lease of life in China, Thailand and Taiwan while Indian fixed-line carriers are considering the technology as a cheap and effective answer for the local loop. Sam Endy, vice president of the Phs memorandum of understanding pressure group which trys to promote use of the system, insists it is quite clear why it is again proving popular. "In Japan it is because of the demand for better quality voice on mobile handsets and assured 64 kbps data download speeds." Phs offers voice at 32kbit. Endy says that all of Japan's phs service providers are reporting a steady increase in subscriber numbers after a dramatic fall 18 months ago. "The user profile is very different now to what it was when phs was launched. It was marketed as a cheap mobile service. Teenagers and low income earners were targeted. But when imode came along, with all its gimmickry, this demographic deserted phs. From a high of eight million subscribers we fell to under six million. Now we have seven million subscribers and the uptake is coming from big city businessmen who demand the better voice quality and fast download speeds offered. For this demographic, a 9.6 kbps imode service holds few attractions. Especially as there is a compromise in voice quality." With all the publicity of wireless internet there is also an increasing expectation that fast services are available. However they will not arrive until third generation is well established and may still be three or four years away. In the meantime phs may well be the best solution for mobile data. IBM Japan, for example, recently launched two notepads with built-in phs terminals, sold through phs operators and with a pre-registered phs phone number. Docomo says that take-up of the notepad has been strong and itself launched a service to display moving-picture content in mpeg4 format via phs handsets. Although audio and video streaming will be the main form of delivery, Docomo says it intends to gradually extend the range of on-demand content from the internet. Content providers will set the frame rate from an expected average of four to five frames a second to a maximum rate of 14 to 15 frames a second. The phs resurgence is not limited to Japan. "We are seeing extraordinary growth in the phs subscriber base in China and Thailand," adds Endy. "There are over two million phs subscribers in China and we expect that this will double ever the next year." The marketing of phs is completely different in China and Thailand compared to Japan. Instead of a mobile service it is a cordless telephone offered by fixed-line carriers. China Telecom, which is allowed to offer the service in cities with a population below two million, calls it Personal Access Service and essentially uses it as a wireless in the local loop product. Callers pay fixed-line tariffs and can use the service throughout the city. But unlike in Japan, these users can not roam out of their home town. "What we have found is that the top 20 per cent of the population are prepared to pay the higher tariffs of mobile services because of inter-city roaming," says Eady. "The next 60 to 70 per cent of the population can afford the Personal Access System while the remainder still cannot afford telephone services. The third generation networks being proposed for increased spectrum efficiency can only be sensibly deployed in high revenue markets. Most of Asia will simply not be able to afford them." In Thailand it is the eight channel feature of phs that is seen as the major attraction. As in China, the service is offered by a fixed-line carrier, Telecom Asia. But one subscription can support up to eight numbers so Thai families are buying several $100 handsets and giving each member a separate phone without the costs of a cellular service.