Japan to allow first new cellphone market entrants in 12 years

Japan's government is set to allow new entrants into the cellular phone service market for the first time in 12 years, a report said on June 1. The communications ministry will give priority to newcomers when it allocates frequency spectrum for third-generation cellphones later this year, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported without citing sources.
The move would pave the way for those companies to start providing services as early as the year starting April 2006, the business daily said, adding Japanese Internet investor Softbank Corp was among candidates.
No immediate comment on the report was available from the ministry.
Increasing competition could affect the performance of the three companies already
providing mobile phone service in Japan - NTT DoCoMo Inc, Vodafone KK, and KDDI Corp, which offers services under the au and Tu-Ka brands.