On April 23, seminars were held on mobile communications systems in the Kyrgyz Republic to introduce PHS to the Kyrgyz people involved. The following is an excerpt from a report on the seminars.

General information and background

The Kyrgyz Republic is a Central Asian country with a population of about 4.5 million people, surrounded by high mountain ranges and covered with grasslands. In the past, this area thrived as the trade center on the Silk Road. The country, called the “Switzerland of Central Asia” for its beautiful scenery, has large lakes and the Tian Shan mountain ranges, over 4,000m high, to its east and west.
Telecommunications services have yet to become pervasive in Kyrgyz, with about 400,000 telephone lines installed nationwide, or nine telephone lines per 100 people. Expansion of telecommunications services, therefore, is one of the main issues that need to be addressed.
The Kyrgyz government looked for ways to narrow the gap, in terms of telecommunications service availability, between urban centers and remote areas, and concluded that PHS-WLL (Wireless Local Loop) systems provide the best solution to this problem. The Kyrgyz government has been considering the installation of PHS-WLL systems in remote communities, and asked the people concerned to give seminars on PHS-WLL systems.

In response to this request, the Japanese Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications (MPT) as well as the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) hosted seminars on mobile communications on April 23 at Kyrgyz Telecom headquarters. (Kyrgyz Telecom is a semi-public, semi-private telecommunications carrier.)
Dispatched to Kyrgyz were Mr. Kumpei Takeida from the MPT, Mr. Kenji Onishi from NTT Mobile Communications Network, Inc. (NTT DoCoMo) and Mr. Yoshiaki Shioda of NEC Corp.

Highlights of the seminars

Mr. Takeida gave a lecture entitled “Policies on Mobile Communications Pertaining to PHS.” He explained the current state of PHS business, including its frequency allocations for the service and the current subscriber number in Japan, and worldwide deployment.
The lecture by Mr. Onishi entitled “PHS Technologies” included demonstrations on PHS terminals, as well as explanations on current PHS-related technologies and application services.

The last presenter, Mr. Shioda, provided thorough explanations on PHS-WLL systems. In his lecture entitled “PHS Wireless Local Loop,” Mr. Shioda stressed that PHS-WLL can be installed in a short period of time at lower cost. He explained PHS-WLL’s prominent features, functions as well as strengths, and also introduced a sample network configuration and actual introduction cases.
Participants in the seminars showed deep interest in PHS technologies including PHS-WLL, and asked a variety of questions ranging from the construction costs to communications charges.

Telecommunications-related organizations

During the visit to Kyrgyz, those delegates met with Kyrgyz government officials for opinion exchanges.
Showing her deep interest in PHS technologies, Ms. Davydova Vaventina Georgievna, First Deputy Minister, Ministry of Transport and Communications, said, “The seminars were very interesting and useful. It was a great success. We would like to ask your further cooperation in introducing telecommunications and computer systems in the near future.”

The president of Kyrgyz Telecom, Mr. Marat M. Mambetaliev, as well as the vice president, Mr. Manas Okonov, stressed the need for further development of telecommunications services in Kyrgyz. “We at Kyrgyz Telecom are very interested in technical developments in Japan and other countries. In particular, we are fascinated by PHS-WLL technologies. We would like to ask your further help in improving our technological expertise and to continue developing telecommunications networks in Kyrgyz,” said Mr. Mambetaliev.

The delegates also met with Mr. Urkaly T. Isaev, the Chairman of Gozkom Invest. Although they called on Mr. Isaev without an appointment, he willingly shared his time with them. Mr. Isaev asked specific questions about PHS-WLL, such as its strengths, the time required for installation and costs N supposing that PHS-WLL would actually be introduced in Kyrgyz. His eagerness impressed all of them.

Conclusion