After Willcom Inc., the nation's largest personal handy-phone system service provider, undergoes rehabilitation, will Japan's PHS service still find a niche for itself amid the saturated mobile market?
While debt-ridden Willcom is quick to point out the unique benefits of PHS for hospitals, which often favor the system's weaker electromagnetic waves over those of mobile phones, most telecom industry pundits believe PHS is unlikely to survive the fierce competition in the mobile communications service sector.
Yusuke Tsunoda, a telecommunications analyst with Tokai Tokyo Research Center, points out that NTT DoCoMo Inc. and other carriers have withdrawn from the PHS market in recent years, and says, "PHS service, in terms of business, is not that profitable."