It is indeed a great pleasure for me to be here today in Suntec City, home to our first indoor PHS application, to witness the formal establishment of the PHS MoU Group at this inaugural general meeting.
In a world of fast evolving and competing technologies, finding the right niche in the market to serve the present and future communication needs of the users is extremely important. Since its introduction, we have seen PHS position itself strategically to fill the gap between the mobility-restricted, low cost cordless telephony, and highly mobile but more expensive cellular solutions.
With its digital cordless technology and micro-cell architecture, PHS offers a variety of applications for the home, office and outdoor environment. Its applications, to name some, include home cordless telephony, office wireless PBX and outdoor public cordless access, all using the same PHS handset.
As countries go through various stages of liberalization in the domestic telecommunications market, we will begin to see many players in what was traditionally the exclusive domain of the PTTs; the basic telecommunications service sector. Adding to that, the ever- pressing need to meet the demand from the huge shortfall in telephone penetration in some countries. It has been predicted that the market for wireless local loop equipment may reach as much as US$ 8 billion by the end of the century. The Asia-Pacific region itself will command 40% of these new wireless local loop lines. In such an environment, PHS would do well to seize the opportunity to present itself as a viable and cost effective wireless alternative to the local access portion of the wired network.
Concurrently, there are also activities in progress which shall work toward widening the scope of PHS applications, such as a PHS Internet Access Forum and the research and development efforts on PHS multimedia capabilities. These activities will undoubtedly provide an additional stimulus to the PHS market.
Amidst this backdrop, it is indeed both appropriate and timely that, as we see today, there is the formal establishment of PHS MoU Group. As a coordinating body, the activities of the PHS MoU Group will benefit the development and promotion of PHS services, result in open technical specifications for the network interfaces, and possibilities for international roaming.
We welcome the positive initiative taken by the PHS MoU Group to extend the participation beyond signatory operators to include regulatory authorities like us, TAS, standards organizations, and certifications bodies. The activities of the PHS MoU Group cannot be carried out in isolation. The inputs from these participants will therefore serve to bring about a harmonized and balanced approach to the introduction of PHS in various countries. So on this note, I would like to wish the PHS MoU Group a very successful and fruitful inaugural general meeting.