At the end of July 1996, after only 13 months since PHS service began in July of 1995 and less than three months since the two million subscriber milestone was passed, the number of PHS subscribers in Japan had surpassed three million.
All of the three operating groups, Astel, DDI pocket and NTT Personal, have extended their service areas throughout the entire country and also enhanced the service in urban areas. Accordingly, users are beginning to enjoy much more convenient, and extensive PHS services.
The operating groups are also promoting new subscriptions aggressively by introducing more attractive new models, providing new services such as answering service, communicating with cellar phones and combining with pager service, as well as introducing extra discount pricing campaigns. The number of subscribers is expected to continue its high rate of increase in the coming months.