KDDI to offer IP phone service - The Pulse - Brief Article

Japan, Inc., Sept, 2002

KDDI has announced that it will launch IP phone services for corporate broadband users this coming fall, It will charge [yen]8.5 per three minutes [yen]2.8 per minute) for domestic calls and [yen]10 per minute for calls to the US. It will charge an additional [yen]2,000 as a basic monthly fee and [yen]4,000 for a rental adapter.

KDDI, Japan's second largest telecom company, has already started experimental services and plans to launch full corporate services as early as October. The service may not be as cheap as the one offered by Yahoo! Japan, a KDDI spokesman acknowledged, but the company is more interested in offering complete services than in starting a price war. Yahoo! Japan offers BB Phone service for [yen]2.5 per minute for both domestic and international calls to the US.