PHS at the Nagano Winter Olympics


NTT Central Personal Communication Network Inc. (NTT Personal) has provided PHS services at the 18th Winter Olympic Games at Nagano on February 7 to 22, 1998.
NTT Personal has established new service areas to ensure in principle that PHS services are available throughout all the Nagano Olympic facilities and at the major game sites.

The PHS service areas cover all indoor facilities as well as main outdoor sites, including the finish points where there are stands for the press and spectators.
The traffic volume for telecommunication generated by the staff, press and general spectators during the Olympics is very large, so cell stations (CSs) with high traffic capacities are installed to assure smooth communication.
The PHS equipment for the respective sites are designed to handle large traffic volumes; in order to handle traffic in excess of the expected capacity, spare circuits and CSs are also reserved.
Various sophisticated technologies have been tried in Nagano Olympics such as wrist-watch type PHS telephone sets allowing voice-activated dialing and multi-media radio terminals for concurrent communication of voice and images are demonstrated in cooperation with NTT.

Services provided at the Nagano Olympics

* Provision of PHS services for the Nagano Organizing Committee (NAOC):
In the PBX constructed at each site, an adapter for office station service (OSS) are installed, and 600 dual terminals which can be used as PBX extension telephones at each site and also as public PHS terminals are provided for managing the games.
* Provision of “Wireless Mobile Environment” by 32k Data Communication Service:
NTT Personal started its 32 Kbps Data Communication Service in April last year, and for the Olympics has set up facilities for transmitting images taken by electronic still cameras, etc. at game venues to head offices, etc., and for sending and receiving e-mail via the Internet.
* Provision of Navigation System using location information:
The area covered by one cell station in the PHS system is as small as 100 to 200 m in radius, so the location of each person who transmits information by PHS can be approximately identified.
NTT Personal started feasibility experiments in July last year for commercializing its Location Information Service by utilizing this feature.
At the Nagano Olympics, this location information is also used in combination with PDA terminals to provide a prototype Location Retrieval Service.

Main Services

To ensure smooth management of the games, Office Station Service (OSS) is provided together with about 600 terminals which can be used as indoor extension telephone sets and also as outdoor public PHS terminals.
*Provision of “Wireless Mobile Environment” by 32Kbps Data Communication Service:
Facilities are set up for the press, etc. to allow 32Kbps data communication at the Olympic Game sites for transmitting photo data, etc. to head offices, etc.

*Provision of Navigation System using Location Information
The location information of PHS is used in combination with PDA terminals to provide a Location Retrieval Service.

For related information, see the NTT Personal homepage