The scene of the General Meeting

     The 16th PHS MoU Group General Meeting & Seminar was held in Sapporo, Japan at JR tower hotel nikko sapporo on October 30 (Fri), 2003 with Mr. Tominaga of the Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Post and Telecommunications (MPHPT) of Japan as a guest and approximately 80 participants representative of each member in five countries. The meeting was such that to anticipate the future development of the PHS.

---------------------------------------- Chairpersonfs Speech ---------------------------------------

Mr. Nobuhiro Horisaki, PHS MoU Group Chairperson

     It is a great pleasure to declare opening this 16th PHS MoU Group Bi-annual General Meeting in Sapporo. I would like particularly to welcome the many delegates who have come here from many countries and regions to join the discussions. Now, there are 66 members from several countries, and the total number of subscribers has exceeded 32million. This is a very remarkable progress. It is my sincere wish that our discussions today and our trip to Sapporo will be very fruitful so that your exchange of information as well as experiences will contribute greatly to the international expanding of PHS deployment we all so earnestly wish for.

------------------------------------------- Guest Speech -----------------------------------------------

Mr. Masahiko Tominaga, Director

A photo of Mr.Tominaga (speaking) and Mr.Horisaki (center)

Land Mobile Communications Division Telecommunications Bureau / Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications of Japan

     Good morning, everyone. My name is Masahiko Tominaga, Director of the Land Mobile Communications Division, Telecommunications Bureau at the Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Post and Telecommunications (MPHPT) of Japan.
     Ifd like to express my hearty welcome to all the participants of this PHS MoU Group general meeting from overseas public organizations, telecommunications service providers and manufacturers. Welcome to Japan.
     Furthermore, I'd like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to all the participants from Japan especially for their continuous understanding and cooperation with the Ministryfs telecommunications administration.
     In opening the PHS MoU Group general meeting, Ifd like to say a few word of welcome to you on behalf of our host countryfs ministry in charge.
     PHS service as a standard mobile telecommunications service is becoming very widespread; there are already approximately 700,000 subscribers in Thailand, 530,000 in Taiwan, and 10,000 in Viet Nam. Furthermore, the number of Chinese PHS subscribers has rapidly increased to more than 25,000,000 at present. Overall, there are more than 32,000,000 PHS subscribers worldwide.
     In addition to that, more than 100,000 PHS lines have already been installed in several countries in relatively lightly populated rural area as an alternative to fixed telephone lines, and it is contributing to the diffusion of telecommunications service into civil life.
     As for overseas development of PHS, there is a new shift from the promotion stage to an actual system usage and development stage, and I understand that this is the fruit of your efforts as the member of the PHS MoU Group.
     I believe that further intimate international exchanges will become more important for future PHS development and your supporting activities are expected as well.
     In Japan, continually increasing usage of the Internet and in particular the growing demand for wireless access is of great relevance to PHS.
     Actually PHS is becoming conveniently used for such purposes and that the number of users is steadily increasing because of the relatively high speed of data communications available -- up to 128 kbps for mobile terminals, making it highly suitable for wireless Internet access.
     I hope that this PHS use for mobile data communications will continue to develop in the future.
     To better support this growing use of PHS as a mobile data communications and to promote the advanced PHS we, Ministry, has introduced the enhanced characteristics of the system to the ordinance based on Telecommunications Council discussions with the aim of keeping up with the need for data communications at much higher speed.
     Advanced PHS makes possible high speed data communications at up to approximately 1 Mbps by combining various speed-up methods while maintaining compatibility with the existing PHS system. The system is widely expected to successfully offer high speed data communications.
     In closing my speech, Ifd like stress that continued effort of the PHS MoU Group members are becoming more important to support the further development of PHS.
     Let me conclude by wishing all PHS MoU Group membersf success and growth.
     Thank you.

------------------------------------------- Keynote Speech --------------------------------------------

     The guest speech was followed by the keynote speeches of Mr. Nakanishi (President of UTStarcom Japan K.K.) and Mr. Hui (MMS General Manager, ZTE Corporation).

gPHS/PAS Overview in UTStarcom Businessh : by Mr. Michio Nakanishi
gOpen and Standardizationh : by Mr. Fang Hui

A photo of the key persons