Looking back at Telecom ’95, Takeshi Kawada said the show has changed from an exhibition for hardware makers to one for software and services. “Today, development of applications holds the key for success. Matsushita is in a good position to propose applications (to) meet customers needs,” he said.
In Japan, Matsushita Communication Industrial Co. has been gearing up its effort to develop third-generation equipment focusing on wideband-CDMA (W-CDMA).
Since NTT DoCoMo plans to launch W-CDMA service earlier than any other carrier in Japan-or the world-Matsushita is focusing on business with DoCoMo.
Matsushita won orders for base transceiver stations (BTSs) and terminals from DoCoMo in April and is currently rushing to develop prototypes of commercial-use equipment, targeting January 2000 for availability.
Matsushita has presented three types of 3G terminals-a visual phone, a simple phone exclusive for voice services and a PC card-to DoCoMo. Kawada said Matsushita will develop equipment to deal with a variety of applications.
In overseas markets, Matsushita will conduct 3G business in cooperation with Nortel Networks.
It is expected revenues from 3G services will take off in the latter half of 2000.
Kawada said he wants to win a 30-percent share of the 3G terminal market in Japan. Matsushita currently has the largest market share of 30 percent in the Japanese cellular terminal market.
To achieve its target, Matsushita’s plans include pouring 60 billion yen (US$556 million) into 3G technology research and development between 1997 and 2000.
But Kawada said those costs may swell further. Although Matsushita is currently focusing on its business with DoCoMo, Kawada said he hopes to do business with the Japan Telecom Group and DDI-IDO group in the future.
Kawada said he tells his employees to develop products based on the trends of the market and needs of customers rather than differentiation from other manufacturers.
“We are competing (with) each other for developing … much … smaller terminals,” Kawada said. “It is not always true that the smaller is the better. As the number of cellular users expands, our customer profile today has a wide variety. We should develop products that exactly meet (the) demands of such a variety of customers.”-Yaeko Mitsumori in Tokyo
