The following interview with President Kikugawa of WILLCOM Inc. is carried on Telecommunication Magazine (May 2008 issuance). The original article is published in Japanese and we hereby translate it into English for your reference.
Face Up To Rough Market With Proud Of A Pioneer
PHS, Fastest In Industry
WILLCOM has determined to start Next Generation PHS service on 2.5GHz frequency in 2009.
The fierce competition of mobile telecommunication market is unavoidable, but “we expect to create new demands by providing high-speed wireless broadband in a wide coverage”, as President Kikugawa uttered the ambition of WILLCOM.
Profile
Mr. Masaki Kikugawa
Mr. Kikugawa was born on July 1, 1963.? After graduating from Business School of Waseda University in March 1987, he joined Daini Denden Co. Ltd. (the current KDDI) directly. He was transferred to DDI Pocket in September 1995 and became the head of general strategic depart in June 2001, the head of managerial business department in June 2002 and the head of directorial business department in October 2004. He witnessed the change of company name into WILLCOM Inc. as the head of directorial business department in February 2005. Mr. Kikugawa was promoted the President of WILLCOM Inc. in October 2006 and is still serving the position today.
Interview
● Mr. Kikugawa, could you make it familiar us with the present conditions regarding the development of Next Generation PHS on 2.5GHz frequency?
We do feel that the expectation from our partners and other concerned parties on us are boosting as the license was granted.
To push forward Next Generation PHS, we are re-organizing our internal resources in two time phases. Firstly, Next Generation Promotion and Development Department was established within Development Department last November. Then, a special section in charge of promoting businesses of Next Generation PHS was established in this April. The section is studying MVNO and the business model of Next Generation PHS now. As we are providing the existing PHS service as an MVNO, it is necessary to consider MVNO as one way to operate Next Generation PHS too. The section is staffed with less than ten people now, but there is a plan to expand it in future. ?
●Under what kind of image is Next Generation service to be carried out?
Restricted service within Tokyo 23 districts will be carried out in April 2009.? The commercial service will cover the whole Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka area by October of the same year. That is, after we make sure that the stable service is granted in restricted area, we plan to expand service area at one stretch. Both time for area restricted service and expanded service can be adjusted ahead of schedule.
As to the total coverage, we have set the internal target of 90% of the total population earlier. This goal can be met earlier than scheduled too, if capital raising and investment plans are in sight, as the location of existing PHS base stations can be made good use of. It is possible to carry out the service earlier than scheduled if the process to down size cells and to build energetically friendly cells is pushed forward smoothly with our continuous technological development.
Our target is to attract 3.9 million subscribers by 2015. Broadband heavy users would be the primary target, and general subscribers including both individual and business users, are expected to accede to the service with the area expanding,.? The amount of Next Generation PHS users are expected to increase sharply from the ten years after the hind half of 2009.
● People say that the transmission speed of Next Generation PHS is to be its selling point, how do you comment?
Next Generation PHS can reach a speed of up to over 20Mbps in transmission, which is much higher than HSDPA’s 7.2Mbps. By now, we have been emphasized that the practical speed should not fail the theoretical speed due to the adoption of micro cells. Its standard speed cited in product catalogue is also higher than any other specifications could define.
In future, we will continue our effort to accomplish an even higher transmission speed by adopting MIMO（Multiple Input Multiple Output） technology.
We have already raised the transmission speed of the existing PHS from 32kbps to 800kbps. It is also theoretically possible to accelerate the transmission speed of Next Generation PHS to several hundred bps, which is the target our Next Generation PHS development team is aiming at. Consumption output still exists as a problem for commercialization, but we believe that the problem can be solved as time passes.
● It is said that WILLCOM is to complete a total investment of about $1.4 billion USD by the end of 2013 , and about $2 billion USD by the end of 2015, but there are voices saying the investment is too small for such a huge project. How do you comment on the saying?
I don’t agree on the saying when you take into consideration of the existing 160,000 PHS cell stations which can be made use of in Next Generation PHS system as well. Usually, over half of the cost in installing a new cell station will be spent on the purpose to guarantee an installing space and negotiation regarding the purpose. We will be able to save that cost owing to the guaranteed locations for existing PHS cell stations. In another word, PHS has provided splendid installation models.
● Technologies regarding network are evolving swiftly just as 3G to LTE, what is the advantage of PHS in such a trend?
The micro cell method adopted by PHS would be the best solution to raise frequency efficiency. It is a clear advantage because we are the only company that has chosen this method for networking. We believe that wireless broadband access with the highest practical speed could be nobody else but PHS.
We have adopted smart antenna that enabled improvement of frequency efficient, micro cell method and SDMA, which are all pioneering technologies for mobile internet, in the existing PHS system. Inheriting these advantages and adding the combination of multiple technologies for speedy transmission such as OFDM and MIMO, Next Generation PHS is designed and developed. ?
Mobile internet will become wireless broadband in Next Generation PHS system, and the existing market is expected to expand more. In addition, we hope to create new demand by providing high-speed stable wireless broadband service in a wide range of area,
With the debut of mobile phone, the time of telephone communication and the amount of telecommunication device owned by individuals tripled comparing to fixed-line era. Likewise, we expect that mobilizing internet broadband to enable its usage at random time and random spot will help create new business models and expand new market.
(Interviewed by Tomoharu Ohta)
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