Dear readers of the newsletter and members of PHS MoU Group, I wish to deliver my message herewith as we enter the new millennium.

The year 1999 marked a turning point for PHS service deployment around the globe.

Thailand's Personal Communication Telephone (PCT) service, the first public PHS service to be on offer outside Japan, was launched in Bangkok on November 15, 1999. This service now has more than 250,000 subscribers. Meanwhile in China, the Personal Access System (PAS), which uses PHS technology, is being introduced widely. And in Bangladesh and Taiwan, licenses for public PHS service have been issued.

As for PHS-WLL systems, countries such as Egypt, Thailand and Zimbabwe have decided to introduce the systems (introduction already being under way in some of these countries). With PHS-WLL systems already being operated in certain countries other than the above mentioned, these moves indicate that PHS technology-adopted WLL systems are gaining a foothold internationally.

As for public PHS service in Japan, the year 1999 was a time for recovery. 64 kbit/s data communications service was launched; an upgraded handover system involving inter-operation of switches was introduced; and, new PHS terminals with seamless handover functionality were released. These advances have highlighted PHS’s superiority in terms of high-speed data communications, greatly improved speech quality and high mobility. With this, the popularity of PHS service in Japan has revived, as witnessed by the increase in the number of subscribers.



It has been said that the year 2000 will see much more widespread use of the Internet, and thus a dramatic rise in the volume of data communications distributed over networks. Buoyed up by this outlook, the PHS sector has been preparing vigorously for the launch of 128 kbit/s PHS data communications service and PHS packet data communications service by the end of 2000. With PHS service increasingly being deployed worldwide and its technological developments becoming much more dynamic, we are very much aware of our mission to push further for PHS service deployment on a global scale. Members of the PHS MoU Group and those who have a stake in the future of PHS service, I would like to ask for continued support and cooperation from you all.