Tag - telecoms

 
 

TELECOMS

Rakuten Group's Rakuten Point is the most frequently used reward point service, according to a survey.
BUSINESS / Companies / FOCUS
Mar 25, 2024
Race to expand corporate economic blocs heats up in Japan
Corporate groups are enticing customers with a variety of services, often bolstered by reward points, primarily geared toward shopping purposes.
BUSINESS
Feb 29, 2024
NTT West president to resign over customer information theft
NTT West has been slapped with administrative guidance by the communications ministry for insufficient supervising.
People walk past the booth of an AI chip company at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 27, 2024
SoftBank, Nvidia and Microsoft team up to use AI in mobile base stations
The alliance aims to work together in preventing communications congestion and promoting the use of smartphone apps using generative AI.
The exact timing of the roll out of Rakuten Mobile's commercial satellite-to-mobile service is uncertain, but the plans for coverage encompass mountainous and remote areas across Japan.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 16, 2024
Rakuten plans satellite mobile service across Japan in 2026
The service, to be rolled out in partnership with AST SpaceMobile, will be directly accessible by regular smartphones and won’t require a terminal.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 7, 2024
KDDI to raise stake in Lawson to jointly run convenience chain
Japan's second-largest mobile carrier currently holds 2.1% of shares but will invest about ¥500 billion to increase its stake through a tender offer.
SoftBank has agreed to buy a majority stake in Irish software developer Cubic Telecom for around €473 million.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 5, 2023
SoftBank buys majority stake in Irish car software developer
SoftBank will acquire 51% of Cubic Telecom, which provides a platform for automakers to update software functions in cars globally and in real time.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 5, 2023
Prospect of NTT Law abolishment unclear amid fierce opposition
The idea was first proposed by a ruling Liberal Democratic Party panel to make the communications giant internationally competitive.
A Rakuten Mobile branch in Tokyo. Rakuten is set for another tough year in 2024, at a time when rivals are on the attack with competitive pricing and reward campaigns.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 29, 2023
Rakuten's mobile misadventure: from ambitious plan to millstone
Founder and CEO Hiroshi Mikitani's vision of a low-cost network using cloud-based software and cheap hardware did not pan out.
Yasuhide Uno, Usen-Next Holdings CEO, has transformed his father’s company into Netflix’s biggest competitor in Japan.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 28, 2023
Reluctant CEO becomes billionaire at Netflix rival in Japan
Initially wanting nothing to do with his father's cable music company, Yasuhide Uno's faith in video streaming helped him rebuild it for a new era.
Monday's disruptions, which began around 8:30 a.m., affected SoftBank's "Otoku Line" and "Otoku Hikari Denwa" services in parts of eastern Japan.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 20, 2023
SoftBank's fixed-line phone services disrupted again
Disruption in parts of eastern Japan followed 14-hour outage over the weekend.
People use smartphones on the street in Tokyo in January 2019.
BUSINESS / Companies / FOCUS
Nov 20, 2023
The NTT Law — a guard against monopoly, or barrier to innovation?
Some say the law regulating the telecom giant stops it from competing against the likes of Google, but others say it contains vital market protections.
A Chinese flag flutters near a Huawei store in Shanghai on Sept. 8.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 21, 2023
German proposal for Huawei curbs triggers telecom operator backlash
Telecom operators swiftly criticized the proposals, while Huawei Germany rejected what it called the "politicization" of cybersecurity in the country.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 30, 2023
Kishida's push to protect vital undersea cables
Undersea communications cables, a pillar of the global economy, are starting to get the attention they deserve in part due to Prime Minister Kishida's efforts.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / ANALYSIS
Mar 16, 2023
Fear of the dark: Taiwan sees wartime frailty in communication links with world
War in Ukraine lends new urgency to Taiwan's security needs, especially against cyberattacks or attempts to sever cables that connect the island to the internet.
Japan Times
WORLD
Mar 5, 2023
Satellites could beam poorest nations out of digital desert
Tech giants including Microsoft have pledged to help poor regions hobbled by bad internet services to 'leapfrog' into an era of online connectivity, with satellites set to play a key role.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Mar 3, 2023
NTT to start offering services under next-gen network initiative
The major telecommunications company plans to start offering the services from March 16 for a monthly fee of ¥1.98 million.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 15, 2023
Rakuten Group logs ¥372 billion record loss as it builds mobile base stations
The cybermall and mobile phone group incurred a net loss for the fourth straight year.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 3, 2023
KDDI and SoftBank to provide new dual-SIM service to ensure connectivity during emergencies
The announcement is a response to KDDI’s massive mobile network outage last summer that affected more than 30 million users.

Longform

Yasuyuki Yoshida stirs a brew in a fermentation tank at his brewery in Hakusan.
The quake that shook Noto's sake brewing tradition