Japanese Tech Stock Weekly Summary

The following is excerpted from IRG's weekly stock report:

Telecommunications

• Telecommunications carrier KDDI Corp. has lowered its group pretax profit projection by 3.3 percent to 406 billion yen (US$58 billion) for the fiscal 2007, citing an increase in sales promotion costs from an unexpected boost in its mobile phone subscriptions. Marketing costs increased after the number of contracts to KDDI's ''au'' mobile phone service climbed to 30.1 million as of March 31, due to new offers like free calls between family members. The number of subscriptions beat an earlier forecast of 30 million. Group operating profit outlook was also revised downward by 3.4 percent to 400 billion yen (US$57 billion) from an earlier forecast of 414 billion yen (US$59 billion) on projected operating revenues of 3,335.26 billion yen (US$476 billion), up 0.4 percent from its earlier forecast.

• Softbank Mobile Corp. (SFTBF.PK) said a system glitch in its facilities disrupted communications for its third-generation mobile phones, possibly affecting up to 870,000 subscribers to the service. The company noticed the problem when an alarm went off at a network center in Tokyo. The glitch appeared to have developed in a part of the switching systems but the company has not yet determined where. The glitch mostly affected Softbank Mobile's 3G series of phones, and those made and sold by a Japanese unit of Britain's Vodafone Plc which was bought by the Softbank Corp. group in 2006.

• NTT Communications (NTT) was honored as the Best Wholesale Carrier at Telecom Asia Awards 2008 in Phuket, Thailand. The awards program recognizes Asia's most outstanding telecommunication carriers and vendors. NTT Com was singled out for its Global IP Network Service, Asia's only global Tier 1 Internet backbone and for boasting the largest network capacity in the region. Judges appointed by Telecom Asia Group based their decisions in part on reports from top telecom research firms, such as Ovum. Judging criteria included areas such as market leadership, introduction of new technologies, financial performance and corporate governance.

Mobile/ Wireless

• RCC Broadcasting Co. will team with video delivery technology developer Aquacast Corp. to stream live broadcasts of Hiroshima Toyo Carp baseball games to cell phones. Unlike One-Seg digital terrestrial broadcasts, these streaming feeds over the Internet will show the entire game, even when the broadcast ends early. And viewers can watch the game from anywhere, whereas the One-Seg broadcasts are only regional in scope. RCC Broadcasting plans to stream around 20 home games this way. The games will be shown in their entirety except when games are shown on TV, in which case the stream to phones will only commence if the broadcast is cut off before the game ends.

• The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ and mobile phone services provider KDDI Corp. will name the cellphone-based Internet bank they plan to establish jointly, ''jibun ginko'' (self bank). The two firms will seek to obtain a banking license for the Internet bank from the Financial Services Agency, possibly in June, with an eye to start operations in July. Jibun ginko will enable subscribers of KDDI's ''au'' mobile services to pay for goods and services they purchase with their mobile handsets, in addition to offering other banking services.

Media, Entertainment and Gaming

• NHK is going global with its NHK World English news and information channel. NHK is Japan’s broadcaster with NHK World English being a new venture to take English-language news around the planet from a Japanese perspective. NHK already has very successful Japanese news channels on air but these are premium services targeted at Japanese expatriates. NHK World English has just secured carriage space on Arabsat, and is now seeking European and African coverage.

Disclaimer: IRG is not responsible for the accuracy of the news compiled within this article, which is based on publicly available information.

Comments

[AmesTiedeman]

I see the dollar weakening much against the mighty YEN. This will only hurt Japan, Inc.