TOKYO-The PHS Memorandum of Understanding Group announced personal handyphone system data traffic in Japan continues to grow exponentially, with PHS providers such as DDI Pocket reporting a 2,700-percent growth rate since April 1997.
Sales of handsets supporting “1,000 character messaging” have been sold out for months, said the PHS MoU Group.
The three major PHS providers in Japan have undergone considerable restructuring in the past six months and have deployed more advanced infrastructure including high capacity switches, adaptive antenna systems and high sensitivity handsets.
Although the Japanese PHS providers have announced 64 kilobit per second rates, all three operators also are expected to introduce 128 kbps service before the end of the year, further contributing to PHS’ rapidly increasing popularity, according to the group.
