() is a Japanese

telecommunications Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that fe ...

operator formed on October 1, 2000 through the merger of DDI Corp. (Daini-Denden Inc.), KDD (Kokusai Denshin Denwa) Corp. (itself a former listed state-owned enterprise privatized in 1998), and IDO Corp. It has its headquarters in the Garden Air Tower in

Iidabashi is a district of Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It was in the former ward of Kōjimachi, which existed in Tokyo until 1947. Etymology Iidabashi is named after a nearby bridge called Iida Bridge (, ''Iidabashi''), itself named after an Edo-period fa ...

, Chiyoda,

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

. KDDI provides mobile cellular services using the " au by KDDI" brand. ISP network services are provided under the au one net brand, while "au Hikari" is the name under which long-distance and international voice and data communications services and

Fiber to the Home Fiber to the ''x'' (FTTX; also spelled "fibre") or fiber in the loop is a generic term for any broadband network architecture using optical fiber to provide all or part of the local loop used for last mile telecommunications. As fiber opt ...

(FTTH) services are marketed.

ADSL Asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) is a type of digital subscriber line (DSL) technology, a data communications technology that enables faster data transmission over copper telephone lines than a conventional voiceband modem can provide. ...

broadband services carry the brand name "ADSL One", and IP telephony over copper is branded as "Metal Plus".

History

On April 1, 2002, au by KDDI launched 3G networks using

CDMA2000 1x CDMA2000 (also known as C2K or IMT Multi‑Carrier (IMT‑MC)) is a family of 3G mobile technology standards for sending voice, data, and signaling data between mobile phones and cell sites. It is developed by 3GPP2 as a backwards-compatible ...

technology. On November 28, 2003, au by KDDI launched EV-DO Rev 0 service in the "CDMA 1X WIN" brand, and revolutionized Japan's mobile telecommunication industry by introducing fixed rate data subscription plans at a data rate of 2.4 Mbit/s. In December 2006, au by KDDI became the first carrier to provide an EV-DO Rev A service at a data rate of 3.1Mbit/s (downlink), 1.8Mbit/s (uplink). au by KDDI has been very successful with its EZ wireless data services, EZweb, EZweb@mail, EZappli, EZchakuuta, ezmovie, and EZnaviwalk (

GPS The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of the global navigation satellite sy ...

), using the advanced WAP technology. It supports both

Java ME Java Platform, Micro Edition or Java ME is a computing platform for development and deployment of portable code for embedded and mobile devices (micro-controllers, sensors, gateways, mobile phones, personal digital assistants, TV set-top ...

and BREW application environments. In November 2004 au by KDDI introduced the music include ringtone download service

Chaku Uta Full () is a Japanese telecommunications operator formed on October 1, 2000 through the merger of DDI Corp. (Daini-Denden Inc.), KDD (Kokusai Denshin Denwa) Corp. (itself a former listed state-owned enterprise privatized in 1998), and IDO Corp. It h ...

(music ringtone full), for download of full length songs to mobile phones. Within six months from introduction, on June 15, 2005, customers had downloaded 10 million full length

songs. As of end of June 2005, au by KDDI has 20,122,700 customers, among which 18,723,200 (93%) are 3G CDMA2000 subscribers. It is Japan's second-largest cellular operator with an increasing 20.0% market share. On January 26, 2006, the first pointing local search application, Mapion Local Search - Powered by

GeoVector GeoVector Corporation (originally named Criticom Corporation) began conducting research into augmented reality in early 1990s. The company, co-founded by John Ellenby, who also founded laptop pioneer GRiD Systems Corporation, devised a metho ...

, was launched on the KDDI network on their GPS and compass equipped handsets. In January 2007, KDDI announced its ten new 3G models for spring 2007, and a concept of its new designer phone Media Skin by

Tokujin Yoshioka is a Japanese designer and artist. He is active in the fields of design, architecture and contemporary art, and he is internationally acclaimed for his works dealing with light and nature. Many of his works chosen as part of permanent collect ...

which would later be displayed at the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

in New York with the Infobar, Talby and Neon models.

Toshiba , commonly known as Toshiba and stylized as TOSHIBA, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Its diversified products and services include power, industrial and social infrastructure systems, ...

Casio is a Japanese multinational electronics manufacturing corporation headquartered in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan. Its products include calculators, mobile phones, digital cameras, electronic musical instruments, and analogue and digital watches. I ...

Sanyo , stylized as SANYO, is a Japanese electronics company and formerly a member of the ''Fortune'' Global 500 whose headquarters was located in Moriguchi, Osaka prefecture, Japan. Sanyo had over 230 subsidiaries and affiliates, and was founded by ...

Kyocera is a Japanese multinational ceramics and electronics manufacturer headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It was founded as in 1959 by Kazuo Inamori and renamed in 1982. It manufactures industrial ceramics, solar power generating systems, telecommunic ...

, Hitachi,

Sony Ericsson Sony Mobile Communications Inc. ( ja, ソニーモバイルコミュニケーションズ株式会社) was a multinational telecommunications company founded on October 1, 2001, as a joint venture between Sony Group Corporation and Ericsson. ...

Sharp Sharp or SHARP may refer to: Acronyms * SHARP (helmet ratings) (Safety Helmet Assessment and Rating Programme), a British motorcycle helmet safety rating scheme * Self Help Addiction Recovery Program, a charitable organisation founded in 19 ...

, and

Panasonic formerly between 1935 and 2008 and the first incarnation of between 2008 and 2022, is a major Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation, headquartered in Kadoma, Osaka. It was founded by Kōnosuke Matsushita in 1918 as a lightbulb ...

have manufactured the other models. In March 2007, Media Skin started selling. KDDI announced that it would collaborate with the Taiwanese manufacturer HTC Corp. to sell the mobile phone HTC J in Japan starting May 2012. The HTC J mobile phone featured the Android 4.0 operating system. On October 21, 2011 KDDI buys Content Delivery Network

CDNetworks Founded in 2000, CDNetworks is a full-service content delivery network (CDN) which provides technology, network infrastructure, and customer services for the delivery of Internet content and applications. The company is positioning itself as a mu ...

For $167 Million. KDDI together with

Sumitomo Group The is one of the largest Japanese ''keiretsu'', or business groups, founded by Masatomo Sumitomo (1585-1652) around 1615 during the early Edo period. History The Sumitomo Group traces its roots to a bookshop in Kyoto founded circa 1615 by Ma ...

signed an agreement with

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

State owned Myanmar Post and Telecommunication (MPT) in July 2014 to jointly operate a mobile phone service in Myanmar for next 10 years. Consumer showroom is set in

Harajuku is a district in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan. Harajuku is the common name given to a geographic area spreading from Harajuku Station to Omotesando, corresponding on official maps of Shibuya ward as Jingūmae 1 chōme to 4 chōme. In popular refere ...

called, "

KDDI Designing Studio KDDI DESIGNING STUDIO, also known as , is KDDI's consumer showroom in Harajuku. Overview KDDI Designing Studio was built on March 4, 2005 in Harajuku is a district in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan. Harajuku is the common name given to a geographic ...

". TU-KA (TU-KA by KDDI), a subsidiary company of KDDI, was a 2G PDC cellular operator in three metropolitan areas (Tokyo,

Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region, the fourth-most populous city and third most populous urban area in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020. Located on the Pacific coast in central Honshu, it is the capital and the most po ...

, and Osaka), which did not apply a 3G license. TU-KA was best known for having singer

Ayumi Hamasaki is a Japanese singer, songwriter, record producer, actress, model, spokesperson, and entrepreneur. By 2002, Hamasaki had earned the nickname "Empress of J-pop" due to her popularity in Japan and throughout Asia. Due to her success and relevanc ...

to appear in their commercials. TU-KA was closed on March 31, 2008. DDI Pocket, a PHS operator, was previously owned by KDDI but has now been spun off as

Willcom Y!mobile is a Japanese mobile phone operator. Y!mobile is a brand used by SoftBank Corp., a subsidiary of Japanese telecommunications company SoftBank Group Corporation, that provides mobile telecommunications and ADSL services. The current CEO o ...

. In August 2014, KDDI announced it was joining forces with five other global companies, including

Google Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...

to build a 60Tbit/s undersea data transmission cable linking the United States West Coast and Japan. The cable started operation in June 2016. KDDI and

Ericsson (lit. "Telephone Stock Company of LM Ericsson"), commonly known as Ericsson, is a Swedish multinational networking and telecommunications company headquartered in Stockholm. The company sells infrastructure, software, and services in informa ...

began working together in December 2015 in order to research and develop 5G technology.

Lawsuits

In 2003, several class action complaints were filed against DDI for misrepresenting and/or failing to disclose material facts about the Company's financial results. The parties agreed on a $4.4 million settlement in 2006.

References and footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kddi Companies listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Japanese brands Japanese companies established in 1953 Mobile phone companies of Japan Telecommunications companies based in Tokyo Telecommunications companies established in 1953

History

Lawsuits

See also

References and footnotes