DDI POCKET, Inc. has decided to accept Taiwanese PHS service provider FITEL's (First International Telecom Corp.) international roaming service.

At present, annual Taiwanese entrants into Japan rank second (17.9%) next to Korea (24.4%) and above the U.S.A., which ranks third (14.2%).
(Source : The Japanese Ministry of Justice's 2002 departure and entry control data)

GSM service is dominant in Taiwan, but international roaming service with Japan is not available because GSM service hasn't been launched in Japan yet. Therefore, a demand for international roaming service using other mobile technology, for example PHS, is getting bigger and bigger in Taiwan.

Under the agreement between FITEL and DDI-POCKET, after May 15, 2002, users of the PHS phones with international roaming function provided by FITEL are able to use their phones in Japan as well as Taiwan. In short, they can receive DDI-POCKET's Japanese nationwide PHS network service with the same phone number (One Handset Roaming Service).

Features of this service are as follows.

(1) One Account Double Number Service
A phone call made in Taiwan to the users of FITEL's PHS phone with international roaming function will automatically be forwarded while they are staying in Japan and further, the same rate as DDI POCKET is to be applied to them for their calls made in Japan using DDI POCKET's phone number (070-xxxx-xxxx) assigned to their phone at the time of subscription so that no additional charge is required as with trombone rooting (Note).
Single billing will be made by FITEL even for international roaming users for easy payment.

(2) Data Communication Availability
The same as in Taiwan, data communication service with 64 Kbps PIAFS is available in Japan as well.
This is the first case in the world for the PHS international roaming service and DDI POCKET plans to launch a similar service for roaming to Taiwan as well for its Japanese users in the future.

(Note) Trombone Rooting:
Usually international roaming will be made through a switching office that contains original subscriber information (phone number etc.) even for a short-range call within the same roaming area etc. due to the limited roaming conditions. Such roaming system is called as "Trombone Roaming" as its communication route resembles to the shape of the trombone.