It is indeed a great pleasure to address PHS MoU News readers and PHS MoU members at the beginning of 2002.

Chairman Horisaki

  Looking back, the year 2001 was a year of further progress for PHS's international penetration.

 In China, in more than a hundred cities, a public PHS service was introduced and the number of subscribers increased enormously, reaching five million.

 In Taipei City, Taiwan's first public PHS service commenced operation in May 2001, and subscribers totaled 120,000 at the end of 2001.

 In the U.S., the first PHS service started in July 2001 in 10 cities. Besides these, public PHS trial services aiming toward introduction were made in Bangladesh, Haiti, India and other countries.

 In Japan, a flat-rate data service, the first PHS service using the packet switching system, was put into operation in July 2001. The packet switching system, suitable for e-mail or web browsing, enables reliable data communications at low cost, has achieved a favorable reputation and contributed to an increase in subscribers. In June 2001, the Advanced PHS Committee, a sub-organization of the Telecommunications Council (a Japanese government advisory body), reported on measures for advancing PHS.
 By combining plural measures in the report, high-speed data transmission, about 1 Mbps at maximum, appears to be both feasible and practical. Our 128-kbps data service is slated to start in 2002, and progress in standardization is expected at the Association of Radio Industries and Businesses (ARIB), based on the PHS advancement measures.