Japanese carriers brace for VoIP competition
VoIP still is considered something of a novelty in the United States, but mainstream Japanese telecommunications groups and software companies have been quick to enter the market -- and are seeking to expand their share. In fact, Japan constitutes the world's biggest VoIP market today, and some of the biggest names in the industry are preparing to work together in order to ensure their dominance in the potentially lucrative business.
The Japanese daily Asahi Shimbun reported Wednesday that Softbank, Japan's largest software developer and the country's biggest VoIP provider, will be working with NTT Communications, the biggest Japanese telecom group and second-largest VoIP provider, as early as next month to further the Internet telecommunications network.
Since it entered the VoIP market in 2002 Softbank has dominated the domestic market, but it is facing increasingly stiff competition from outside Japan, particularly from Skype. The Luxembourg company is the world's biggest VoIP provider and recently was bought by online-auction giant eBay.
At the same time, companies that have traditionally played no role in telecommunications, including Microsoft and Time Warner, as well as Internet companies such as Yahoo! and Google, have made significant investments in recent months in their bid to become major players in the increasingly lucrative VoIP market.
As such, industry analysts broadly agree it would be in the best interest of major Japanese VoIP providers to join forces in order to keep a firm hold on the domestic market amid increasing competition from abroad.
posted by Fergie @ 9/28/2005 03:11:00 PM
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