PHS has been rapidly growing pulled by China and its worldwide subscribers have exceeded 100 million, however, the growth rate is losing its former momentum. Since the Chinese PHS's opening in 2000, service area and contents have steadily been expanded and sharp expansion line armed with low tariff has been continued, however, intensified competition among carriers caused from the decrease of the GSM tariff, introduction of the new value added services such as GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) etc., upcoming 3G service etc. may be a big reason for such slowdown in subscriber growth. Further, it may be another factor for the above that the users began seeking for services not only low tariff but also suited to their own lifestyle as their economic power increases.

   On the other hand, in Japan, PHS subscribers have once fallen drastically, however, recently the net increase again continues to improve. Drastically low tariff for example, flat-rate data and voice service, enriched terminal lineup equal to the mobile telephone, service contents expansion, network quality improvement, service area expansion etc. may have assisted such rise.

   The situation may be slightly different between China and Japan, however, it's no doubt that the PHS can restart growing further if we succeed in grasping again the user needs more accurately.