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Home > Press Release > Till 31st March, 2006 > Tomen > 2003 > Tomen Launches International Mobile Phone SMS
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Tomen Launches International Mobile Phone SMS2003-02-17
Tomen Launches International Mobile Phone SMS(Short Message Service);
Because each Japanese mobile phone carrier uses its proprietary technology for text message transmission, before today, incoming SMS messages from abroad could not be read. Tomen's new network changes this obstacle to communications through unique networking arrangements. The Philippines will be the first country for the SMS network service connecting with the mobile phone users in Japan when Tomen finalizes their agreement with Globe Telecom, one of the Philippines' largest mobile phone carriers. The Philippines is the world's largest consumer of SMS, sending some 100 million messages among mobile phone users per day in that country alone. In 2001, SMS traffic was approximately 550 million messages per day (200 billion message per year) communicated throughout the world, according to GSM (Global System for Mobile Communication) Association's 2001 statistics. Tomen plans to expand the network service connection with mobile phone carriers in Brazil, Asian countries, the United States and European countries. "Tomen's target market is comprised of over 1.7 million foreign residents in Japan, and about one million of those are our prospective users, using our network's capabilities to communicate with their families and friends back home," said Yoichiro Iwasaki, Group Leader of Mobile Business Group, Electronics and Network Products Department of Tomen. "We think the market in Japan alone has wonderful potential." Using SMS, a mobile phone user can send a text message using about 160 Roman alphabet characters to other mobile phone users. SMS is the main messaging vehicle in many countries but not in Japan. In Japan, people tend to use Email by the EZweb or the i-mode type of mobile Internet platform. The network Tomen is building will enable the conversion of inbound SMS into mobile web-mail format and vice versa. Nothing will change as far as mobile phone users are concerned. The users in Japan simply log on to the Tomen mobile web-mail service and will be able to write messages and to send them to recipients' telephone numbers overseas. Those who would like to send SMS messages to Japan may do so the usual way they send SMS messages with recipients getting there in a web-mail format. In Japan, KDDI's 'au' and Tu-Ka mobile phone users can enjoy the service from EZweb's contents program, paying the service fee to KDDI with telephone charge. NTT DoCoMo and J-Phone users in Japan can also enjoy the service by paying the service fee to Tomen in advance at major convenience stores. For outbound messages to Japan from overseas, SMS users can send and receive messages and pay the user fee to their local carriers. Tomen plans to obtain about 100,000 users in Japan in 2003, the first year of operations, and to aim its sales of 1.2 billion yen for the following 2 years. Tomen has expertise in mobile phone and telecommunication projects in Asian countries including the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia, and in Europe and the U.S.A. With this expertise and strong business relations with mobile phone carriers in these countries, Tomen is confident in its plans to expand the international SMS network globally. Telephone Support
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