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31st May 2005 - Vodafone K.K. announces today that
starting 7 June 2005 it will offer roaming services
on SK Telecom Co., Ltd.’s W-CDMA network for its 3G
customers , making it possible for them to use in South
Korea the handsets that they normally use at home. The
agreement marks the first time for an operator in Japan
to offer roaming in South Korea on a W-CDMA network.
Vodafone K.K.’s Global Roaming Service lets customers
use Vodafone K.K. 3G handsets in countries and regions
abroad in addition to Japan. Previously, customers traveling
to South Korea had to rent dedicated CDMA handsets to
roam on local CDMA networks. With the opening of W-CDMA
networks in South Korea, however, it is now possible
for customers using Vodafone K.K. 3G handsets to take
their handsets for use in South Korea, a top-ranking
travel destination for Japan residents with over 2.4
million travelers visiting in 2004.
With this new W-CDMA roaming agreement in South Korea,
Vodafone K.K. 3G customers will be able to enjoy voice
roaming services in 117 countries and regions, and Vodafone
live! services in 53 of them as of 7 June 2005. In fiscal
2004, customer usage Vodafone K.K.’s Global Roaming
Service was an approximate 850,000 times, more than
double the number of the previous year, which was an
approximate 390,000 times in fiscal 2003.
Vodafone K.K. will continue to expand its roaming network
overseas to offer richer global communications to customers.
*1 Vodafone 902/802/702 series handsets, excluding
the 802N. Service area in South Korea is limited to
within Seoul.
*2 As of 30 May 2005, according to Vodafone K.K.
*3 According to 2004 data from the Japan National Tourist
Organization (JNTO).
- Vodafone and Vodafone live! are registered trademarks
of Vodafone Group Plc.
- Vodafone Group is the world’s leading mobile
carrier and as of the end of March 2005, had equity
interests in 26 countries and 431.8m venture
customers, with a further fourteen partner networks.
About Vodafone K.K.
Vodafone K.K. is a leading mobile operator in Japan
with over 15 million customers and a subsidiary of Vodafone
Group Plc, the world’s largest mobile community.
The Tokyo-based company offers a wide range of sophisticated
mobile voice and data services including Vodafone live!,
which provides mail and internet access to 85% of its
customers, and pioneered the picture messaging service
called Sha-mail first introduced in November 2000. In
December 2002, Vodafone K.K. launched the world’s
first commercial 3G W-CDMA service based on 3GPP international
standards. Vodafone K.K.’s 3G service offers its
customers rich content and roaming on 156 networks in
117 countries and regions. For more information, please
visit www.vodafone.jp
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