Rakuten to start PHS service in April
Rakuten[J], Japan's largest e-commerce player, unveiled that it is planning to start a PHS (personal handy-phone system) service as an MVNO (or mobile virtual network operator) for its corporate users this coming April.
Jointly with Fusion Communications, and under a roaming agreement with Japanese PHS operator Willcom, Rakuten intends to provide free mobile phone service for making calls from Rakuten PHS handsets to fixed-line phones and to other PHS handsets, without setting up its own wireless facilities.
Fusion Communications, a Rakuten subsidiary, is an IP-based phone carrier and was acquired from Tokyo Electric Power in 2007.
Leading Japanese MVNOs are Disney Mobile[J], which the Walt Disney Company operates in partnership with Softbank Mobile, and Japan Communications' b-mobile which uses Willcom's and NTT-DoCoMo's wireless platforms.
Proofread by: Sean O'Hagan
Author Information Masaru IKEDA has co-founded several system integration companies and consulting firms in Tokyo. He has been contributing serial columns to nationwide newspapers and IT periodicals, also he's currently serving as tech consultant for several web companies. His biography is here. His private blog is here. 
