Major Carriers to Launch “Japan Roaming” for Disasters

Tokyo, March 19 (Jiji Press)–Four major Japanese mobile phone carriers have announced a plan to launch a new service called “Japan Roaming” that will allow users to connect to available lines of other companies if communication failures occur due to large-scale disasters and other emergencies. NTT Docomo Inc., KDDI Corp., SoftBank Corp. and Rakuten Mobile Inc. will jointly begin the emergency roaming service on April 1, according to a joint announcement on Wednesday. The initiative aims to ensure that the communication infrastructure essential for life and economic activities remains operational during emergencies. The service will be free of charge and will not require prior registration. It will be available in two operating modes–one that enables only emergency calls through manual settings, and another that automatically connects users to voice and data. The carriers will decide which mode to activate depending on the scale of disasters and the severity of network disruptions. Users of low-cost mobile operators that lease networks from major carriers will also have access to some functions, including emergency calling. Until now, mobile carriers have promoted the use of free Wi-Fi services that become available during emergencies and fixed-line telephone services. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]