Japan and China cooperate in the development of next-generation cell phone services

Serkan Toto

Dr. Serkan Toto is an independent consultant and advisor focusing on Japan’s web, mobile and social gaming industries. Based in Tokyo, he works together with financial institutions and startups worldwide. Serkan has been the Japan contributor for TechCrunch.com since 2008. He is sept-lingual, holds an MBA and is a PhD in economics. → Learn More

Thursday, April 30th, 2009

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Two of the biggest country markets of the world, Japan and China, are on their way to develop a next-generation mobile phone network for the Chinese market that paves the way for Japanese phone makers. The Chinese cell phone infrastructure is still mainly based on 2G (Japan turned 100% 3G just a few weeks ago).

Japan’s Prime Minister Taro Aso is expected to meet the Chinese Premier and President tomorrow. The plan is that both countries jointly develop 3G and 3.9G services, mainly aimed at optimizing video file transfers. Another (rather unofficial) reason is to fence out carriers and hardware makers from America and Europe, making sure the huge Chinese market stays under control of Nippon and China.

There are 100 million cell phone users in Japan, but that number is dwarfed by the estimated 600-700 million people owning a mobile phone in China.

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