New cellular service named 'au'

Japanese telecom carriers DDI Corp., IDO Corp. and KDD Corp. said Monday that the unified brand name for cellular phone service under their Oct. 1 merger will be "au."

The name will be used from July by the eight regional companies comprising the IDO-DDI cellular group, ahead of the merger.

Phones with the new brand mark will be sold through au retail shops throughout Japan, the companies said.

The three firms said the "a" stands for "access" and "always" and the "u" stands for "universal" and "unique."

DDI is a long-distance carrier belonging to the electronics device maker Kyocera Corp. group; IDO is a mobile phone operator affiliated with Toyota Motor Corp.; and KDD is Japan's largest international telecom carrier, with Toyota as a major shareholder.