NTT Mobile Communications Network Inc. and Matsushita Communication Industrial Co. announced Thursday that they will establish a joint venture early next month to distribute music over PHS phones. Air Media Incorporation will be capitalized at 400 million yen. NTT DoCoMo will own 51 percent and Matsushita the rest. The proposed firm will begin distributing music and music-related information over NTT DoCoMo's personal handy-phone system network in the fall. Subscribers of NTT DoCoMo's 64 kbps PHS service will be able to listen to and download music via a handy-phone terminal developed by Matsushita Communication Industrial.The service also will be offered on a next-generation mobile telecommunications system that the country's largest mobile phone carrier plans to launch next year, NTT DoCoMo President Keiji Tachikawa said. NTT DoCoMo hopes to attract two million users to the service within five years. Service fees and other details remain undecided. In May, Air Media Incorporation will launch a two-month trial service with about 500 monitors.
