22 Nowember 2008

Nokia To Start Own
Cell Phone Service In Japan In Feb

Yomiuri Shimbun claims that world's biggest mobile phone handset maker - Nokia Corp plans to launch a mobile phone service business in Japan next spring becoming the first handset maker to provide cellphone services in the country, Japanese daily Yomiuri Shimbun reported in its Saturday morning edition.

This surprising Nokia's move could shake up the Japanese market and is expected to intensify competition among Japanese cell phone carriers (NTT Docomo Inc., KDDI Corp. and SoftBank Mobile Corp) resulting with the changes in the market positions of each operator

Finnish cell phone manufacturer Nokia is expected to use lines owned by Japan's biggest mobile phone carrier, NTT Docomo Inc, under an arrangement called "virtual mobile network operator", the paper said.

Nokia will first offer the service with high-end models to establish a strong brand, Yomiuri said. By improving its brand image through the introduction of the high-end brand, Nokia is expected to pave the way for it to introduce cheap, mass production models and increase its market share

Nokia is the world's biggest handset maker but holds less than a 1 percent market share in Japan. Major Japanese cell phone makers, such as Sharp Corp, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co Ltd and NEC Corp, dominate the world's most advanced handset market.