Second placed Japanese mobile operator KDDI has come out with all guns blazing as the country’s wireless players prepare for the introduction of number portability.

KDDI unleashed no less than 12 new handsets Monday, supported by a slew of new data services and faster network speeds. The operator unveiled plans for a mobile-based community to be known as My Page and also outlined its high speed wireless network upgrade.

KDDI will begin to roll out cdma2000 1x EV-DO Revision A from December, dramatically increasing access speeds on its network.

With mobile number portability – a regulatory implementation allowing subscribers to take their number with them when they move to a different operator – due to start October 24, competition in the Japanese market will undoubtedly heat up.

Market leader NTT DoCoMo has not yet fired its first volley in the forthcoming marketing war, but has said that it will not charge incoming number ports above the standard contract handling fee of Y3,150 yen (ВЈ14). Although people taking their numbers away from DoCoMo will be charged Y2,100.

KDDI’s standard administration fee for new users is Y2,835, but the cost to port a number away from KDDI is the same as its rival at Y2,100.

The landscape in the market is set to change further with the introduction of new wireless players IPMobile and Softbank, which were awarded spectrum last year, marking the entry of the first new entrants into the country’s mobile industry in more than a decade.

Earlier this summer the Ministry of Internal Affairs & Communication also moved to force Japan’s incumbent cellcos to allow MVNOs access to their networks.

New guidelines will demand that network operators lease spare 2G and 3G capacity to newcomers in a move that will radically shake up Japan’s mobile market as early as next year. It is likely that the new entrants will be all but forced to compete on voice prices in a market where tariffs are already set at Y100 for three minutes.

NTT DoCoMo, Inc. and its eight regional subsidiaries, KDDI Corporation, Okinawa Cellular Telephone Company, and Vodafone K.K. will implement mobile number portability on October 24, 2006.

Pantech Group, the number two mobile phone company in South Korea, today announced that it would supply its second CDMA model to the Japanese mobile carrier KDDI, starting in September. The new A1406PT handset features practical applications and a convenient design that will be targeted at middle aged and elderly mobile phone users.

The third generation CDMA mobile phone is to be rolled out in Japan through the partnership with KDDI, one of the top three mobile phone service providers in Japan, and will be sold under the Pantech and au brands, as part of an agreement worth USD110 million. au is one of Japan’s leading mobile phone brands and is owned by KDDI. Pantech expects to ship additional units of the A1406PT handset next year.

Customized for middle aged and elderly users, the model features special functions for security and convenience. Three �one touch’ keys, located under the main display, allow users to dial three different numbers quickly with one touch.

Keon C. Kim, Senior Vice President, Overseas Sales Division of Pantech, said: “The handset market in Japan is one of the most competitive and dynamic in the world, and the launch of the A1406PT looks set to give us a strong position among the growing segment of middle aged and older users. We feel that this launch underlines our advanced technology and our ability to tailor our products to meet customer demand, as well as consolidating our presence in the Japanese mobile phone market”.

The phone is equipped with a sizeable 2.4” LCD screen that shows enlarged letters and key pad buttons with larger letters. A security alarm, located on the upper folder, sounds when a button on the front of the handset is pressed in an emergency.

Other features on the A1406PT include a 1.3 mega pixel camera supporting video clip recording and viewing, MP3 ringtone, email and EZweb. Pantech plans to release the product in lighter colors, in white and pink.

Pantech signed an agreement last year to supply third-generation mobile phones to KDDI under the Pantech and au brand names, the first time that a Korean manufacturer had ever entered the Japanese handset market. The first Pantech phone – the A1405PT – has set records with sales of over 300,000 units since it was first launched last December.

The A1405PT phone was the smallest, lightest mobile phone ever to be launched in Japan, weighing just 98g. The successful launch of the phone resulted in KDDI awarding Pantech a special appreciation plaque for helping enhance the au brand in Japan. TheA1406PT has also received the �Friendly Design’ label from KDDI, which is bestowed upon models which are deemed to have outstanding usability, from design and functional perspectives.

The CDMA handset market in Japan is currently one of the world’s largest, next to the U.S., with more than 90 million mobile subscribers. Pantech plans to continue to apply its �select and focus’ regional expansion strategy to enlarge its share of the Japanese market.

A1406PT features:

- 800 single-band CDMA 1x 2000

- Dimension: 98.3 x 50.8 x 19.8mm

- Display: Main- 2.4” 260K QVGA TFT LCD (240*320 pixels)

- Sub – 1.2” 65K TFT (128*128 pixels)

- Smart mode/ Crime prevention buzzer/One-touch key pad

- 1.3M CMOS camera with flash

- EZweb/Cmail /email

- MP3 ringtone / 64 polyphonic ringtone