J-PHONE in Japan to Unify Wireless Price Plans

J-PHONE that it has sought permission from the Japanese Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications to offer six price plans and seven discount services for its 2G (PDC) networks that are nationally unified from February 1, 2003.

All six price plans are package plans that come with free calls, including the Value Pack Platinum which has a basic charge of 14,500 with Japan’s largest amount of free calls in the industry at 10,000 yen, and the Value Pack, which has a basic charge of 3,900 yen with 2,000 yen of free calls. Seven discount services will also be introduced simultaneously, including Automatic Carry Over which transfers unused free calls to the following month and Family Discount which allows up to four family members to save 50% on basic charges and family voice and mail communications* upon registration.

Previous price plans and discount services had regional disparities but with these new unified services, J-PHONE is able to provide even greater customer service. Furthermore, these service names and voice charges are the same as those for Vodafone Global Standard and therefore blend seamlessly with J-PHONE’s new international service to be launched Dec. 20, 2002 that enables users to use their handset both in Japan and abroad. Vodafone Global Standards subscribers will also be able to register for the Family Discount service.

For more information on the new price plans and discount services to be introduced February 1, 2003, please refer to the attached appendixes.

*Discount applies to sending charges for Long Mail/Sky Mail and Long Mail downloading.

About J-PHONE
J-PHONE Co., Ltd. is a leading mobile operator in Japan and a member of the Vodafone Group, the world’s largest mobile community. J-PHONE offers sophisticated mobile services including high quality voice telephony, “Sha-mail” (picture messaging), “Movie Sha-mail” (video messaging), J-SKY (internet and e-mail access) and Java™ applications. The company has over 13 million customers, of which more than 86% are J-SKY subscribers. J-PHONE was awarded one of three licenses to operate 3G mobile services in Japan, and is scheduled to launch 3G commercial services on December 20, 2002.

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