TOKYO: Japanese telecommunications company KDDI Corp. is set to launch a mobile phone service in the United States.
The company, the second largest phone operator in Japan after NTT DoCoMo Inc., will be largely targeting Japanese customers in the U.S. This will be the first time that a Japanese telecoms company will operate a mobile phone services under its own brand in the U.S. It will be using the network of U.S. carrier Spring Nextel Corp.
The company will launch the service under a newly-created KDDI Mobile brand and has set up a local company, KDDI America Inc., for the operations. The service will be based on the CDMA standard, which is a common standard adopted by several U.S. carriers.
The company said it has obtained license to operate as a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) in 49 of the 50 states in the country. It will not be operating in Alaska.
The service, according to sources, should be available by the end of April. It will use handsets like those made by Sanyo Electric and LG group for the service.
