science

Mobile phone industry in Japan

Mobile phone industry in Japan is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Mobile phone industry in Japan rather than just read about it. In short: The Japanese mobile phone industry is one of the most advanced in the world. As of March, 2022 there were 199.99 million mobile contracts in Japan according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.

Key takeaways

Mobile phone industry in Japan belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Mobile phone industry in Japan to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Mobile phone industry in Japan from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Japanese mobile phone industry is one of the most advanced in the world. As of March, 2022 there were 199.99 million mobile contracts in Japan according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. This is 158 percent of Japan's total population. The mobile phone industry is currently transitioning to 5G and utilizing new technologies like Fully Virtualized Cloud Native Mobile Network (FVCNMN) currently led by Rakuten mobile. FVCNMN was previously considered impossible to deploy in a big scale. In Japanese, mobile phone handsets (携帯電話端末, keitaidenwa-tanmatsu) are often referred to as simply keitai denwa (携帯電話) or keitai (携帯) for short. There are four main mobile network operators (MNO) and a series of mobile virtual network operators (MVNO) which work by renting out a portion of the network of a MNO and providing a services on top of them.

History In the year 1979, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) launched the world's first generation (1G) mobile phone service in Tokyo as a car phone. In 1985, NTT offered Japan's first mobile phone service, called the "Shoulder Phone." In 1988, Mobile Communication Group, which later was absorbed into KDDI, started mobile phone service In 1993, NTT Docomo started its first digital mobile phone service (2G), using a Time division multiple access (TDMA) variant called Personal Digital Cellular. In 1994, Digital Phone Group and Tu-Ka Group, both of which later became SoftBank, started mobile phone service. In the same year, DDI Pocket, a subsidiary of KDDI, started PHS mobile phone service. In 1999, NTT Docomo started i-mode Internet service. In 2001, NTT Docomo premiered the world's first Third Generation mobile phone service (3G), using W-CDMA technology called FOMA. In 2002, KDDI started 3G service in Okinawa, using CDMA2000 technology. In the same year, J-Phone started 3G service using W-CDMA technology. In 2003, J-Phone changed its name to Vodafone. In 2006, Vodafone Japan was purchased by SoftBank and renamed to SoftBank Mobile. In the same year, MNP (Mobile Number Portability) was introduced. In 2007, Japanese regulator introduced new guideline for unbundling new handset price and service plan. In 2010, SoftBank Mobile stopped all non-3G services, focusing on 3G service only. In 2012, NTT Docomo stopped 2G services, which also made its car phone service to end. In 2020, Rakuten mobile starts offering 4.5G - 5G services to the public utilizing a Fully Virtualized Cloud Native Mobile Network

Providers There are four cellular service operators in Japan.

NTT Docomo DoCoMo was spun off in 1991 from Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT), NTT Docomo first offered its second-generation service known as Personal Digital Cellular (PDC). It now offers a 3G service using W-CDMA technology known as FOMA. The company is operating a world band W-CDMA network at 2100 MHz. As of February 2019, the number of subscribers is 79 million.

KDDI KDDI was formed by the merger of KDD (International phone service operator), DDI (nationwide CDMA operator except for Kanto and Tokai area), and IDO (CDMA operator for Kanto and Tokai area) in 2000. They offer the au mobile phone service: its second generation service, using CDMA technology, and 3G service, using CDMA2000. Their operating bands are 800 MHz and 2100 MHz. As of March 2016, there are 46 million subscribers.

SoftBank

SoftBank purchased Vodafone Japan at $15b in 2006. SoftBank now offers 3G, 4G and 5G services using W-CDMA technology at 900 MHz and 2100 MHz. SoftBank was also the exclusive service provider of Apple's iPhone in Japan until November 2011. As of March 2016, there were 40 million subscribers. SoftBank acquired Y!mobile in 2010 and continued to use Y!mobile.

Rakuten Mobile

Rakuten Mobile was born in 2018 after Rakuten announcement of entry in the mobile business industry in 2017. In 2018 Rakuten was granted the 1.7 GHz band. By 2020 Rakuten Mobile started selling the first plan called Rakuten UN-LIMIT which uses 4.5 G and 5G technologies and relies on a Fully Virtualized Cloud Native Mobile Network to provide their services. By 2022, Rakuten had capture 2.2% of the total market and the number is rapidly increasing.

Industry

The Japanese mobile phone market is known for its extremely competitive and saturated market, which, combined with a complex regulatory environment, has led to growing consolidation among manufacturers and providers alike. Mobile telecommunications operating licenses are administered by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. In Japan, there have never been band license auctions. Usually MIC issues operating licenses by just paper checking. Collaboration by the various companies can be seen at the Yokosuka Research Park, near NTT's Yokosuka R&D Center, where many manufacturers have research and development laboratories offices. An outdoor testing site is also located there. Since the introduction of new regulations about unbundling service plan and handset prices in 2008, the Japanese handset market has shrunk. At its peak in 2007, the total handset shipping amount was roughly 52M units. However, the number for 2009 was roughly 32M units. This caused a serious recession for the handset industry and a consolidation of companies due to the reliance which handset vendors had on the Japanese market. Japan's PHS technology has been exported to China, Taiwan, and other countries. NTT Docomo's i-mode web technology had been used by Australia's Telstra, Russia's Mobile TeleSystems, UK's O2 and a few other mobile service providers overseas. NTT has been one of the main contributors to the 3G W-CDMA standard. NTT Docomo collaborated with AT&T Mobility to set up a 3G-compatible mobile phone network in Hawaii.

Handsets

Manufacturers The following manufacturers have marketed and sold handsets within Japan:

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Mobile phone industry in Japan

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Mobile phone industry in Japan claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Mobile phone industry in Japan before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Mobile phone industry in Japan ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Mobile phone industry in Japan

In research: Mobile phone industry in Japan appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Mobile phone industry in Japan in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Mobile phone industry in Japan is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Mobile phone industry by country, Telecommunications in Japan, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Mobile phone industry in Japan outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Mobile phone industry in Japan in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Mobile phone industry in Japan means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Mobile phone industry in Japan out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Mobile phone industry in Japan in simple terms?

Why does Mobile phone industry in Japan matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Mobile phone industry in Japan?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Mobile phone industry in Japan.