Japan Ends PHS Wireless Communication after 28 Years

Jiji Press

9:40 JST, April 2, 2023

TOKYO (Jiji Press) — Japan terminated its last remaining personal handy phone system, or PHS, wireless communication service at the end of Friday, 28 years after the system’s commercial debut.

SoftBank Corp., the only company with PHS operations in Japan, ended its PHS service, used for such purposes as vending machine management.

The company’s PHS service for general retail users was terminated at the end of January 2021.

PHS services, featuring lower rates than those for mobile phones, had some 7 million subscribers in Japan in 1997. The number dropped as mobile phones grew popular.