(INFORMATION)

November 15, 2001

FINLAND - JAPAN JOINT ANNOUNCEMENT ON
MOBILE INTERNET





1. PURPOSE

The Government of Japan and the Government of Finland will work together in order to create a favourable environment for mobile internet.

With mobile internet the Governments of Japan and Finland understand technology and services that allow the full use of internet in mobile devices. Mobile internet should be more advanced than the current applications and it should be characterised by open operating systems, moving images, sound, colour, easy-to-use browsers and broadband access, for example.

The Governments underline that it is the responsibility of the private sector to lead the development of mobile internet. The Governments will focus on creating effective and simple regulation that ensures that consumers have globally available a broad selection of high quality goods and services available at reasonable prices and that their rights are protected. At the same time they emphasise that regulation must create a favourable business environment, provide a level playing field for fair competition and minimize the administrative burden on companies.

2. AREAS OF COOPERATION
  Co-operation between the Governments of Japan and Finland for the development on mobile internet will focus on the following areas:
    
  • Establishing the third generation mobile communication networks and services that form the basis of mobile internet. Transparent, clear and consistent legal framework, fair competition and open standards of IMT-2000 are crucial factors in the development of networks and services for mobile internet.
  • Developing the post 3G mobile communication networks and services for the needs of a future information society. The systems beyond IMT-2000 should be made fluent and the possible bottlenecks caused by increasing demand for bandwidth and radio frequencies should be solved rapidly.
  • Ensuring that the whole potential of mobile platforms will be used in every aspect of information society. All the benefits of new and innovative ways of work, education, administration and business that will become possible by the mobile internet should be utilized.
  • Building confidence and trust of citizens, consumers and businesses on mobile internet. Trust is based on appropriate implementation of data security and privacy legislation and support of business bahavior through codes of conduct, certification and trust marks.
3. MEANS OF CO-OPERATION
  The Governments of Japan and Finland will elaborate the developments in the field of mobile internet in their regular bilateral discussions which will be held periodically. Furthermore the Governments will co-operate in the framework of international organisations, like ITU, OECD, WTO, WIPO, and UN, when appropriate.

The Governments undertake to inform each other about their policies affecting the mobile internet, including the allocation of future generation mobile communication frequencies.

The Governments will encourage, inter alia, exchange of information, and joint-projects including technical co-operation of research institutions and companies from Japan and Finland for the development of the infrastructure and services of mobile internet.

The Governments will bring the civil society, businesses, research institutions and administrations from both countries together for a broad discussion on the potential and hindrances of mobile internet and for the development of concrete projects mentioned above.

Therefore, means of co-operation mentioned above will be promoted through frameworks to be organised jointly by the relevant organizations such as the Finnish Mobile Committee and the Mobile IT Forum of Japan.


Please refer questions concerning this information to:
International Policy Division, International Affairs Department
Telecommunications Bureau
Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications
Tel: (03) 5253-5920 Fax: (03) 5253-5924
feedback_e-telecom@soumu.go.jp