Softbank Corp. plans to start a nationwide video broadcasting service for mobile phones by the end of 2012, Softbank officials said Wednesday.
The Internet services firm, which will enter the mobile phone market in spring 2007, will ask the telecommunications ministry for a broadcasting license as early as next year, the officials said.
Softbank plans to succeed by using a range of attractive broadcast programs, including its own productions, they said.
The Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry is thinking of allocating a frequency band for new services after it is vacated by television broadcasters that are now shifting to digital-based broadcasting.
Softbank plans to obtain authorization to use part of the frequency band to be vacated, they said.
If authorization is granted, it will add momentum to the fusion of broadcasting and telecommunications services. Softbank may air up to 16 channels of video, the officials said.
In December, Softbank began offering more than 30,000 video items to personal computers over the Internet. That content will also be offered to mobile phone customers using the envisioned broadcasting services, they added.