Legislating the end of the walled garden?

Forbes.com repeats an interesting report from Japan.  (Thanks to Wireless Watch Japan for the pointer!).

The Ministry of Communications is studying making it mandatory for telecommunications service providers to allow other telecom firms access to their wireless communications networks in the year to March 2008, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported without citing sources.

This seems unecessary.  True, most wireless operators have some form of walled garden today, but mobile access is competitive.  Japan already has three mobile operators (DoCoMo, KDDI & Softbank) and is planning to grant licenses next year for three more high-speed wireless communications networks.

I'm willing to forecast a market-driven end to the walled garden in Japan by 2008-2009.

UPDATE

Maybe a false alarm?  I've just seen a report from Sayaka Yakushiji on the Dow Jones newswire which implies they might be discussing legislation to permit MVNOs...

Japan's telecommunication ministry is considering facilitating the entry of new operators into the mobile phone business by allowing them to use existing wireless networks built by domestic carriers, a ministry official said Tuesday.

The move will allow companies such as content providers and software companies to tap into the massive mobile network business without shouldering the heavy costs involved in building infrastructure.

I'll see if I can get clarification.

Comments

[Lars Cosh-Ishii]

Hello Brough: First-off thanks for subscribing to WWJ.. 8-)

I've actually met a few of your Tokyo based people here at our Mobile Monday events: http://www.mobilemonday.jp/ It would be great to see you there sometime if/when you're in Tokyo!

As for the recent news.. the first thing that comes to mind is the panel is only making the suggestion to the ministry.. as you might know in Japan.. they like to have many (long) meetings about such things and while it makes great headlines I wouldn't expect much to change anytime soon. That being said we already have a well-established MVNO here in JCI.. Seji (Frank) Sanda, ex-Apple Japan CEO, started at least 4 years ago re-selling (data only) on Tu-Ka's PHS network and is still a going concern AFAIK.