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Spectrum resources in Japan have been administered by Somusho (Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts, and Telecommunications, MIC), a branch of the Government of Japan, since the end of the War. As in other countries, the demand for spectrum use for communication and other purposes has been increased significantly during recent years because of rapid technological progress and the emergence of new services; spectrum supply is in shortage now.
In contrast to U.S., U.K., and many other countries, however, the Japanese Government
has adopted a very conservative way to deal with the shortage problem. It still
relies on governmental command and control in handling the assignment of spectrum
blocks to users (licensing). Somusho follows the global trend in reallocating
spectrum bands; the supply of spectrum for new services including mobile telephony
and wireless networking has been increased. No competitive mechanism such as
spectrum auction has been introduced in doing this, although MPHPT is introducing
reallocation and utilization fees to a limited extent. As a consequence, one
sees few new major entrants in the use of spectrum in Japan.
This chapter summarizes the past and the present state of spectrum policy in
Japan, particularly in comparison with those in other countries such as U.S.
and U.K. In addition, an attempt will be made to explain what are the major
impediments to the introduction of open and competitive supply of spectrum in
Japan.
spectrum policy, Japan, history, allocation, assignment, spectrum bands, spectrum blocks, license, comparative hearings, spectrum commons, auction, exclusive use, spectrum regulation, radio law, blanket license, IMT-2000, 3G mobiles, wireless LAN, user fees, MIC
Routledge, London and New York.
Martin Fransman (Communications Engineering, IET)
Sean Curtin (The Japan Society of the UK)
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Hajime Oniki