Internet
ò The Tokyo Stock Exchange said it will delist Livedoor from its Mothers market as early as next month. The action comes after the countryÆs Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission has reportedly decided to file a complaint against the internet company and five suspects, including LivedoorÆs former head Takafumi Horie. The procedure will have TSE placing first Livedoor on the liquidation post for one month to inform investors of the action, then delisting the shares, the delisting taking place possibly in April. Falsifying financial statements is one of the acts specified in the exchange's delisting standards as it has grave implications for investor decisions and the fair management of the market. Livedoor was previously put on the liquidation post in January, when Horie and others were first arrested. The TSE did not go so far as delisting then because charges brought against them at the time were not covered by its delisting standards.
ò Hikaku.com, an operator of price-comparing web sites, announced that it is listing on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's Mothers market for start-ups, marking the first time a company established with less than 10 million yen ($84,000) in capital has gone public. The company earns revenue from online affiliate advertisements, receiving fees when viewers of the ads either buy the advertised products or request product catalogues. Hikaku.com was capitalized at 2.5 million yen ($21,000) when it was founded in August 2003. It currently has 23 million yen ($193,000) in capital. The company's web site currently allows a comparison of 44 kinds of products and services, including financial products, insurance and travel-related services. Hikaku.com aims to increase the varieties of products and services comparable on the site to 300 within three years. In January, the web site attracted 900,000 visitors. The company expects a consolidated pretax profit of 250 million yen ($2.1 million) in its current business year ending in June, a figure representing a 140 percent rise from a year ago when its book-closing was only on a parent-only basis. The expected profit increase is expected to come from growing revenue from affiliate ads brought about by an increasing number of visitors to the web site. Hikaku.com said it plans to use the about 1.8 billion yen ($15.1 million) to be raised through the initial public offering to expand its server capacity and as an operating fund. Monex is the lead manager for the IPO.
Mobile/Wireless
ò KDDI Corp announced on that it would begin in July a combined fixed-line and mobile telephone service for companies. To do this, KDDI has developed the E02SA, a handset that is compatible with wireless-LANs (local area networks). The handset can be used as a mobile phone outside the company and for internal-line service inside the company. KDDI will team up with system configuration companies and promote the phone to corporations as a way to reduce communication charges. The handsets can also make use of a fixed-line service when calling an outside line from within the company.
ò NTT DoCoMo Inc. said it has registered 162,300 new subscribers on a net basis to its cellular phone and PHS (personal handyphone system) services in February, besting other firms for a third straight month, according to the Telecommunications Carriers Association. DoCoMo's performance is attributed to strong sales of handsets targeted at the winter shopping season. The figures are also seen as index for a good start for new models introduced that month. KDDI added 160,200 new contracts on a net basis. Its au cell phone service attracted 275,100 subscribers, while its Tu-Ka service lost 114,900 customers. Vodafone KK, which is in talks to be sold to Softbank Corp., got 12,200 subscribers, a number that shows weaker growth than the month before. The results show that the gap is widening between Vodafone, the third-largest cellular provider, and industry leader DoCoMo and No. 2 firm KDDI Corp.
Hardware
ò NEC Corp. said it has developed a semiconductor laser technology that may lead to the development of next-generation, high-speed supercomputers. The laser, which converts electrical signals into light, connects LSI (large scale integrated) circuits with each other via optical signals, making it possible to transmit data at a speed of 25 gigabits per second, the fastest ever achieved. With existing laser diodes, the maximum data transfer speed has been limited to 10 gigabits per second. The present generation of supercomputers, including Japan's Earth Simulator, which until recently was the world's fastest, is designed to use electrically connected LSI circuits. NEC hopes that, with the new laser technology, Japan will be able to take the top spot from the U.S. in the race to make the fastest supercomputers.
ò Fuji Photo Film disclosed its plans to issue 200 billion yen ($1.6 billion) in euro-denominated convertible bonds in a bid to increase its production capacity for polarizing sheet film for LCDs, as well as go into acquisitions and cover restructuring costs. The plan will have the firm issuing two types of bonds: one at a variable interest rate that matures in March 2011, and a fixed-rate instrument set to mature in March 2013. The bond issuance will be conducted using a new technique developed by Nomura Securities Co. A special-purpose company established in the Cayman Islands will purchase the convertible bonds. Nomura will sell to individual investors bonds exchangeable for Fujifilm shares and backed by the convertible bonds. This is the first time since 1983 that the company is seeking to procure funds through equity financing.
Korea
Mobile/Wireless
ò South KoreaÆs three mobile phone operators announced additional customer numbers in February, a figure boosted by growing numbers of subscribers to new terrestrial DMB service and strong early-year demand. SK Telecom, the market leader, said it added a net 79,125 customers in February, bringing its total to 19.6 million. KTF gained a net 82,323 users to 12.4 million by the end of February, increasing its market share to 32.2 percent. The third-largest operator, LG Telecom, added a net 56,136 subscribers to raise its total to 6.6 million. The total number of mobile phone users in the country was 38.7 million last month, representing about 81 percent of the population. The number of subscribers to terrestrial DMB phone service stood at 34,000 with KTF, 17,000 with LG Telecom as of the end of February.
ò LG Electronics said it would start to supply WCDMA-based DVB-H phone for Hutchison. Buying the rights for broadcasting FIFA World Cup through DVB-H, the Italian operator will show all the games through DVB-H handset from June. Earlier, LG said it successfully demonstrated its WCDMA-based DVB-H phone in Milan late last month. LG-U900 is capable of mobile broadcasting for over two hours and video calling. DVB-H is a mobile TV standard developed by a Nokia-led project and in rivalry with DMB and Media FLO supported by Korea and the U.S.-based Qualcomm, respectively. In a separate report, LG Electronics announced that it would launch its DMB (Digital Mobile Broadcasting) phone business in Europe with the first release of handsets in Germany in May. The LG-V9000 model is compatible with EuropeÆs GSM (2G)/ GPRS (2.5G)/ UMTS (WCDMA) (3G) services. LG said it is introducing the LG-V9000 in Germany not only to coincide with the launch of the country's DMB service but also just in time for its hosting of the 2006 World Cup. In separate report, Strategy Analytics (SA), a research institute, has predicted that the size of the global mobile TV phone market, which currently totals 8 million units, will grow to 120 million units by 2010, a figure that will stand for 10 percent of handsets worldwide.
ò Samsung Electronics announced that it supplied Cingular Wireless, the largest GSM operator in the US, with WCDMA phones (GH-ZX10). This marks the first time that Samsung provides the WCDMA service in the region. Cingular starts the first commercial WCDMA service in North America this month. After what it considered as the success in the world WCDMA market including Europe last year, the South Korean handset maker expects the debut in the US market will be the start of sales growth in the regional market. The company is planning to supply HSDPA phone to the North American market soon.
ò People in their 20s and 30s were a major user group of terrestrial DMB phones launched in January this year, according to market research firm Atlas Search. The study also indicated that demand for the new handsets was also significant in non-metropolitan areas, where service has yet to be introduced. The research firm surveyed 1,000 mobile phone sales stores nationwide, and found that some 78,000 units of T-DMB phones were sold through February this year, with young people in their 20s and 30s accounting for 87.5 percent of the customer base. People living outside the metropolitan area took 13.6 percent of the total, indicating potentially strong demand for T-DMB handsets in those areas. T-DMB service is now available only in the metropolitan area.
ò KTF, the nationÆs second largest mobile operator, introduced a new service where professional disc jockeys recommend ringtone, ringback tone, and karaoke on subscribersÆ requests. The service, named Magic music DJ, offers one-on-one advice from professional deejays about mobile music contents. Another service sends out text messages about up to date entertainment news and DJ recommendation weekly to subscribers. Receiving subscriber request, deejays give answers by text messages and subscribers would log on to the mobile Internet, Magic, to download recommended contents. The music recommendation and music box services are free of charge.
Media, Entertainment and Gaming
ò Industry sources said the British government and business organizations wish South Korean game firms to invest in England. The entire European market is valued around $9 billion by next year. Of the total value, the online game market and the mobile game market are expected to account for $650 million and $1 billion, respectively. The report said that the British government considers games as one of the innovative technology industries, and that it plans to invest 320 million pounds ($552.3 million) in the industry for the three years. With some 25 percent of game development in Europe being conducted in England, the country is considered one of the worldÆs three game powerhouses.
Hardware
ò Samsung Electronics says it has developed the worldÆs first 10-megapixel-camera phone, which provides almost the same picture quality as professional cameras. A picture taken with a 10-megapixel resolution remains sharp even when blown up to calendar size. According to its top official, Samsung aims to increase the companyÆs market share from 12.7 percent to 14-15 percent this year. The company also said the global WCDMA mobile phone market will grow from 40 million units last year to more than 80 million this year, and Samsung Electronics aims to sell more than 10 million of the third-generation phones alone.
Telecommunications
ò KT, South Korea's largest fixed-line and broadband operator, announced the signing of a deal with a local shipbuilding company to provide it with maritime communications service. The deal was signed with Hyundai Heavy Industries and calls for KT to offer satellite-based maritime communications to its vessels operating around the world from late April. Hyundai Heavy is reputedly the world's top shipbuilder.
