Market Studies

PHS: Market & Technology Study

Published: July 1995

$2995 - Print copy
Overview:
PHS (Personal Handyphone Systems) are digital cordless telephone systems which provide high-quality and high capacity voice and data services at a low-cost. Since the inauguration of PHS services in July 1995, the Japanese PHS market has seen explosive growth of its subscriber base. The popularity of PHS in Japan arises from its lower price of handsets and services, smaller and lighter handsets, higher message security and higher data transmission speeds than existing cellular phone systems. This report provides an in-depth look at the PHS technology and its market in Japan as well as its potential for success in foreign markets.

Table of Contents

1.0 Executive Summary

2.0 Carriers and Architecture

  • 2.1 History of PHS
  • 2.2 Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications
  • 2.3 Service Providers
  • 2.4 PHS Architecture
  • 2.5 PHS vs. Traditional Cellular Systems
  • 2.6 PHS vs. Other Low Mobility Systems

3.0 Trends in Subscribers, Costs and Services

  • 3.1 Present and Forecasted Growth in Subscribers
  • 3.1.1 Past Growth
  • 3.1.2 Users of PHS
  • 3.1.3 Regional Growth
  • 3.1.4 Forecasted Growth
  • 3.2 Trends in Service Coverage
  • 3.3 Trends in Handset Prices
  • 3.4 New PHS Phones
  • 3.5 Home Antennas
  • 3.6 Trends in Service Charges
  • 3.7 New PHS Services
  • 3.7.1 Pager-PHS Services
  • 3.7.2 Cellular-PHS and Cellular-International Services
  • 3.7.2.1 Third Party Services
  • 3.7.2.2 Direct Services
  • 3.7.2.3 Combined PHS-Cellular Phones and Services
  • 3.8 Profitability of PHS Carriers
  • 3.9 Trends in Base Station Sizes and Costs

4.0 PHS and Mobile Computing

  • 4.1 Potential Market for Mobile Computing in Japan
  • 4.2 PHS Data Transmission Services
  • 4.3 PHS Handsets for Data Transmission
  • 4.4 Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs)
  • 4.5 Personal Digital Assistants with Internal PHS Phones
  • 4.6 Information Content Services for PHS
  • 4.7 Business Applications for Mobile Computing With PHS

5.0 PHS-Based Private Branch Exchanges

  • 5.1 The Market for PHS-Based Private Branch Exchanges
  • 5.2 Composition of Typical Systems Including Standards
  • 5.3 Advantages of PHS-Based PBX Systems
  • 5.4 Relative Costs of PHS-based and Wireline PBX Systems
  • 5.5 PHS-Based PBX Products
  • 5.6 New Services/Incentives

6.0 Impact of PHS on Other Telecommunication Services

  • 6.1 Number of Cellular and Pager Subscribers
  • 6.2 Factors Behind the Cellular Subscriber Growth
  • 6.2.1 Liberalization of Handset Market
  • 6.2.2 Increased Competition from New Cellular Service Providers
  • 6.3 The Growth in the Number of PHS and Cellular Subscribers on a Regional Basis
  • 6.4 Impact on Cellular Prices
  • 6.5 Impact on Introduction of New Cellular Data Services
  • 6.5.1 New Data Transmission Services
  • 6.5.2 Cellular Phones Capable of Data Transmission
  • 6.5.3 Cellular Phone Data Cards
  • 6.5.4 Combination Cellular Phones/Personal Digital Assistants
  • 6.6 Special Information Services Available For Cellular
  • 6.7 Business Applications for Cellular-Based Mobile Computing
  • 6.8 Impact on Profits
  • 6.9 Impact on Introduction of New Pager Services
  • 6.10 Impact on Wireline Telephone Services

7.0 Foreign Markets for PHS

  • 7.1 Foreign Orders for PHS Systems
  • 7.1.1 Public Systems
  • 7.1.2 PBX Systems
  • 7.1.3 Wireless Local Loops
  • 7.2 Key factors Affecting Diffusion of Public PHS Systems in Other Countries
  • 7. 3 Largest Potential Foreign Markets

8.0 Market Shares and Profiles of Major Suppliers of PHS Equipment

  • 8.1 Market Shares for Service, Equipment, and Phone Providers
  • 8.1.1. Services
  • 8.1.2 Base Stations
  • 8.1.3 Phones
  • 8.2 Profiles of Phone and Base Station Suppliers
  • 8.2.1 Aiwa
  • 8.2.2 Casio
  • 8.2.3 Fujitsu
  • 8.2.4 Hitachi Electric
  • 8.2.5 Iwasaki Communications
  • 8.2.6 Japan Victor
  • 8.2.7 Japan Wireless
  • 8.2.8 Kenwood
  • 8.2.9 Kokusai Electric
  • 8.2.10 Kyocera
  • 8.2.11 Kyushu Matsushita
  • 8.2.12 Matsushita Communications
  • 8.2.13 Meisei Electric
  • 8.2.14 Mitsubishi Electric
  • 8.2.15 Motorola
  • 8.2.16 NEC
  • 8.2.17 Nippon Denso
  • 8.2.18 Nitsuko
  • 8.2.19 Oki Electric
  • 8.2.20 Sanyo
  • 8.2.21 Seiko Denshi Kogyo
  • 8.2.22 Sharp
  • 8.2.23 Sony
  • 8.2.24 Sumitomo Electric
  • 8.2.25 Toshiba
  • 8.2.26 Uniden

List of Tables

  • 2.1 Major Differences Between PHS and Major Cellular Systems
  • 2.2 Technical Specifications of Low-Mobility Systems
  • 3.1 Comparison Between NTT Central Personal, NTT Wireline and NTT Public Phone Connection Charges (3 minute calls)
  • 3.2 Percentage of New PHS and Cellular Subscribers in September, 1996 by Age and Sex
  • 3.3 Changes in the Age Distribution of PHS Subscribers
  • 3.4 Number of PHS Subscribers and Penetration Rate by Region
  • 3.5 Increases in Base Stations and Coverage in the Chugoku Area
  • 3.6 Distribution (%) of PHS Phone Prices (Yen) by Type of Store and Region in February and March, 1996
  • 3.7 Prices for Specific PHS Phones (Yen) in February and March, 1996
  • 3.8 Changes in Day Time Air Charges for NTT Personal Kansai
  • 3.9 Changes in Day Time Air Charges for DDI Pocket Kansai
  • 3.10 Typical Air Time Charges for Between PHS Phones and Between PHS and Wireline Phones
  • 4.1 Summary of Existing Personal Digital Assistants (PDA) in Japan
  • 5.1 Reasons for Installing PHS-based PBX Systems
  • 5.2 Number of Installations by Application for One Producer of PHS-based PBX Systems
  • 6.1 Existing and Extrapolated Penetration Rates for Selected Countries
  • 6.2 Number or Cellular and PHS Subscribers and Overall Penetration by Region as of October 30, 1996
  • 6.3 Distribution of Cellular Phone Prices by Type of Store and Region in February and March, 1996
  • 6.4 Monthly Service Plans Available in the Kansai Area
  • 6.5 Sales and Profits for Cellular Firms in Fiscal 1995
  • 8.1 Base Station Suppliers for Each Carrier
  • 8.2 Type of Phones Produced by Each Firm
  • 8.3 The Relationship Between Phone Producers and PHS-based PBX Systems
  • List of Figures
  • 1.1 Number of PHS Subscribers
  • 2.1 Organization of the Japanese Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications (MPT)
  • 2.2 Organization of the Mobile Communications Section Within the MPT
  • 2.3 PHS Regional Carriers
  • 2.4 Major Applications of the PHS System in Japan
  • 2.5 Typical Configuration of the PHS Public System
  • 3.1 Number of PHS Subscribers
  • 3.2 Problems with PHS as Perceived by the Retail Outlets
  • 3.3 Desires of Consumers Concerning PHS
  • 3.4 Traffic Pattern for PHS, Cellular and Wireline
  • 3.5 Number of Subscribers in Tokyo
  • 3.6 Number of Subscribers in Hokkaido
  • 3.7 Number of Subscribers in Tohoku
  • 3.8 Number of Subscribers in Tokai
  • 3.9 Number of Subscribers in Kansai
  • 3.10 Number of Subscribers in Hokoriku
  • 3.11 Number of Subscribers in Chugoku
  • 3.12 Number of Subscribers in Shikoku
  • 3.13 Number of Subscribers in Kyushu
  • 3.14 Market Shares for the PHS Carriers
  • 3.15 Installed Cost of PHS Base Stations
  • 4.1 Differences Between DDI Pocket's Data Transmission Systems and the PIAFS Standard
  • 5.1 Composition of a Typical PHS-based PBX System
  • 6.1 Cellular Operators in Japan
  • 6.2 Growth in Cellular Subscribers
  • 6.3 Recent Growth in Cellular Subscribers
  • 6.4 Trends in Air Time Charges
  • 6.5 Trends in Cellular Fees
  • 8.1 Carrier Market Shares
  • 8.2 Market Shares for PHS Phones
  • 8.3 Points for PHS Phones by Month

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