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NTT Communications' IP Phone Network to be Linked to Cellphones

Posted on: Saturday, 4 October 2003, 06:00 CDT

Tokyo, Oct. 4 (Jiji Press)--NTT Communications Corp. will allow its Internet Protocol-based phone service subscribers to make calls to cellphone users, and vice versa, starting in November at the earliest in a bid to attract more subscribers.

The company's IP phone network will be connected with cellphone networks of NTT DoCoMo Inc. , KDDI Corp. , Vodafone K.K., and the TU- KA group.

NTT Communications, a unit of Japanese telecommunications giant Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. , is expected to charge dozens of yen per minute for calls to cellphones from its IP phones.

At present, users of NTT Communications' IP phones can make free calls to each other, and also to subscribers to services of Nifty Corp. and other Internet access providers that are in tie-ups with NTT Communications.

But they cannot ring up users of KDDI's IP phone service and the Softbank Corp. group's "BB Phone" service, as well as users of cellphones and personal handy phone, or PHS, system handsets.

NTT Communications plans to make its IP phones accessible to PHS, in addition to cellphones.

Moreover, the company will link its network to IP phones of its rivals in December and on, including NTT East Corp., KDDI, PoweredCom Inc., and Fusion Communications Corp. Connection with BB Phone is not planned at the moment.

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