Three Japanese companies that use PHS - a home-grown technology that once threatened cellular technology for dominance of the world's mobile telephony business - have lost a combined 590 billion yen (about HK$35.12 billion) on the system.
Junichiro Miyazu, president of PHS inventors NTT Corp, said yesterday the company was considering switching its two million subscribers over to cellular phones.
'We cannot continue to sell PHS as something that is no different from a cellular phone,' he said.
The company expects its cumulative losses in its PHS business to reach 240 billion yen by the end of the month.
Another provider, Astel Tokyo Corp, recently underwent a management shake-up after accumulating 200 billion yen in losses and was believed to be fighting for survival, analysts said.
A third company, DDI Pocket, is expected to hold on for a longer period, since it has a 50 per market share and a smaller cumulative deficit of 150 billion yen, one analyst said.
