GLOCOM Platform Tokyo Forum Report: November 21, 2002

Takahiro Miyao (Professor, GLOCOM)

Summaries, Slides and Videos

Theme:	"Socio-Economic Impacts of Mobile/Wireless Technologies: Strategies and Policies"
Date/Time:	Thursday, November 21, 2002 Forum: 13:30 - 17:30 pm; and Reception: 17:30 - 19:00
Place:	The Japan Foundation, International Conference Room (ARK Mori Building, 20th floor)
Program:
Opening Session: 13:30 - 14:00    Hideya TAIDA (Director, Center for Global Partnership, The Japan Foundation)    Opening Address: Shumpei KUMON (Executive Director and Professor, GLOCOM) Keynote Speech: "Where Are We Up To?" [Slides (pdf 350KB)/ Video (300k, 56k)]    Session 1: Global and National Trends and Strategies: 14:00 - 15:20    Jonathan ARONSON (Professor, University of Southern California) "Mobile and Wireless: Global Trends and Strategies" [Slides (pdf 211KB)/ Video (300k, 56k)]    David ISENBERG (President, Isen.com) "Wireless: The Thin Edge of the Wedge" [Slides (pdf 119KB)/ Video (300k, 56k)]    Shuji TOMITA (Senior Executive Vice President, CTO, NTT Communications) "Broadband & Ubiquitous: Success for Hotspot Business" [Slides (pdf 1.34MB)/ Video (300k, 56k)]    Philip SIDEL (Assistant Professor, International University of Japan) "The Emergence of Context: Consumer Behavior on the Mobile Internet" [Slides (pdf 139KB)/ Video (300k, 56k)]    Session 2: Community Strategies and Policy Issues: 15:40 - 17:00    Masataka OHTA (Lecturer, Tokyo Institute of Technology, and CTO, MIS, Inc.) "GENUINE: The Mobile Internet Service" [Slides (1.58MB)]    Hajime YAMADA (Professor, Toyo University, and Special Research Fellow, GLOCOM) "Mobile Communications Market from the Perspective of Competition Policy" [Slides (52.6KB)]    Tim POZAR (Founder, Bay Area Wireless Users Group) "Community Wireless Networks and Regulatory Impact on Deployment in the United States" [Slides (pdf 347KB)/ Video (300k, 56k)]    Kobo INAMURA (Director General for ICT Policy Planning, Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications) "Realizing the Potential of Broadband: Infrastructure, Markets, Service" [Slides (pdf 606KB)]    Final Comments: 17:00 - 17:30    Comments by Jonathan Aronson, David Isenberg, Robert Berger and Miwako Waga Concluding Remarks by Shumpei Kumon"
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Background

Mobile and wireless technologies are the hottest theme in the IT field now, as they are being applied to change our daily life in a fundamental way. In this forum, we will discuss various socio-economic changes that are being brought about by these technologies from global as well as local perspectives. Japan is supposed to be ahead of the U.S. in the area of mobile telephone with Internet connections, and NTT DoCoMo has just started to market its well-celebrated "i-mode" in the US. On the other hand, Japan is introducing the idea of wireless LAN connections to the Internet from the US for data exchange. It is interesting, therefore, to find out about recent trends and future prospects for mobile/wireless communications in the U.S. and Japan and to learn from each other regarding national and community strategies and policies in this rapidly advancing field.

The GLOCOM Platform (www.glocom.org) has so far held two international forums on this theme, one in Los Angeles and the other one in Tokyo. The Los Angles Forum, which was presented by GLOCOM in cooperation with the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California on September 26, focused on U.S.-Japan comparisons in the socio-economic impact of mobile/wireless technologies. A report on the LA Forum is available at http://www.glocom.org/special_topics/glocom_rep/200210_miyao_la/ with videos (http://annenberg.usc.edu/japan).

The Tokyo Forum was offered by the GLOCOM Platform and sponsored by the Center for Global Partnership at the Japan Foundation in cooperation with The Japan Times. It was held at the Japan Foundation's International Conference Room (ARK Mori Building, 20F) in Tokyo on November 21 (Th), 13:30 – 17:30. This time, the emphasis was on "strategies and policies with regard to the socio-economic impacts of mobile/wireless technologies." An overview of the presentations is given below.

An Overview of Presentations

Opening Session:

Hideya TAIDA (Director, Center for Global Partnership, The Japan Foundation)
Opening Address:

Shumpei KUMON (Executive Director and Professor, GLOCOM)
Keynote Speech: "Where Are We Up To?"
In view of the recent telecom "meltdown," and the "paradox of the best network," meaning that the best network is the hardest one to make money running, we need to invent a new operation model with emphasis on collaboration among municipalities, firms, and civil society, or netizens, where wireless seems to have remarkable potential for the future of community area networks.

Session 1: Global and National Trends and Strategies:

Jonathan ARONSON (Professor, University of Southern California)
"Mobile and Wireless: Global Trends and Strategies"
In the area of mobile and wireless, some key questions are: What is evolving in the wireless landscape? Which supply innovations or demand discontinuities might revolutionize business? What should policymakers do? In any case, Internet and wireless data suggest unexpected sources of traffic will drive growth in the future.

David ISENBERG (President, Isen.com)
"Wireless: The Thin Edge of the Wedge"
Telephone company-style vertical integration inhibits innovation, as today's winner applications such as email, the Web, e-commerce, etc. were not creased by telephone companies. Already "unlicensed spectrum" is disruptive to carriers, and U.S. Spectrum Policy Task Force will bring more changes. Most of the important future communications applications have not been discovered yet.

Shuji TOMITA (Senior Executive Vice President, CTO, NTT Communications)
"Broadband & Ubiquitous: Success for Hotspot Business"
Japan's wireless LAN market is growing rapidly, and NTT Com's "Hotspot" service will soon be expanded to 1000 locations such as cafes, restaurants, hotels, airports, etc. to provide high speed WLAN connectivity environment, where key issues include (I) coverage vs. cost, (II) usability vs. security and (III) a new value with key technologies to be provided by Ipv6.

Philip SIDEL (Assistant Professor, International University of Japan)
"The Emergence of Context: Consumer Behavior on the Mobile Internet"
Recent survey results suggest that, rather than the typical approach to contextual marketing focusing on content, location and time of day as the primary descriptors of context, we need a model that captures three key dimensions in the individual's motivation for accessing the mobile Internet, namely, location embrace, time usage and information privacy, as desired by the consumer.

Session 2: Community Strategies and Policy Issues:

Masataka OHTA (Lecturer, Tokyo Institute of Technology, and CTO, Mobile Internet Service, Inc.)
"GENUINE: The Mobile Internet Service"
Usual hotspot services are hopeless and more stations do not mean mobility, while Mobile Internet Service offers real mobility. Since area coverage is essential to mobile service, we need to expand our service area in cooperation with community partners such as "MIAKO NET," where 150 base stations have been installed in Kyoto Prefecture. But we have encountered some difficulty in placing access points in the premises of JR East train stations, and discretionary administration is not helpful but rather discouraging.

Hajime YAMADA (Professor, Toyo University, and Special Research Fellow, GLOCOM)
"Mobile Communications Market from the Perspective of Competition Policy"
As wireless LANs enter the market, facilities-based competition among cable Internet, fiber optics, DSLs and wireless LANs will create a healthy market in the future. Operation of wireless LANs is available in various forms including priced services by telecom operators and spot services provided free of charge. Policy issues include: abolition of regulations and redistribution of frequencies.

Tim POZAR (Founder, Bay Area Wireless Users Group)
"Community Wireless Networks and Regulatory Impact on Deployment in the United States"
Community wireless networks are cooperative in nature and stretching the limits of the existing technology. Although community wireless networks have significant potential, there are a number of regulatory issues that can slow down growth. In particular, FCC's rules give no legal standing to the owners of wireless networks using 802.11, so deploying wireless network infrastructure based on unlicensed spectrum can be risky.

Kobo INAMURA (Director General for ICT Policy Planning, Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications)
"Realizing the Potential of Broadband: Infrastructure, Markets, Service"
Broadband access costs in Japan are less than half those in the U.S., and Japan's infrastructure construction is progressing steadily. But its actual use is sluggish. Thus we need to formulate a strategy for encouraging use of the broadband Internet such as setting targets for promotion. In this regard, Japan is making a proposal for an Asian broadband program promoting ICT through deployment of broadband networks not just in Japan but also in Korea, China and other Asian countries.