December 21, 2022 Publication of the First Report of the Study Group on Roaming Among Service Providers in a Time of Emergency and Results of Solicitation of Opinions

The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) has decided to publish the first report compiled by the Study Group on Roaming Among Service Providers in a Time of Emergency (chaired by AIDA Hitoshi, professor, Graduate School of Engineering, University of Tokyo).

1. Overview

MIC organized a Study Group on Roaming Among Service Providers in a Time of Emergency, which has been undertaking deliberations since September 2022 regarding such matters as roaming among service providers^*, where mobile phone users temporarily use the networks of other service providers, in order to secure means of communication in times of emergency.
The Study Group compiled a draft first report, on which MIC solicited opinions from Tuesday, November 29 through Monday, December 12, 2022. As a result, 15 opinions were submitted.
As the First Report of the Study Group on Roaming Among Service Providers in a Time of Emergency has been finalized based on the received opinions and the results of discussions at the 6th session of the study group held on Tuesday, December 20, 2022, MIC hereby releases the finalized report.

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  Roaming among service providers is a mechanism for network interconnection between service providers in the event of the failure of mobile phone services due to a disaster or equipment failure, enabling mobile phone users to temporarily use the networks of other service providers.

2. Published materials

• 1.
  First Report of the Study Group on Roaming Among Service Providers in a Time of Emergency
• 2.
  Results of the solicitation of opinions on the draft First Report of the Study Group on Roaming Among Service Providers in a Time of Emergency

3. How to obtain reference information

MIC will post the attached reference information on the public comment page of the e-Gov (https://www.e-gov.go.jp/ ).
MIC will make the submitted opinions available for viewing and obtaining copies at the Telecommunications Systems Division, Telecommunications Bureau, MIC (10th Floor, MIC).

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  The published materials are in Japanese only.