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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TOKYO 001302 
 
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E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EINT ECON EINV TINT JA
SUBJECT: OKINAWA PRIVIDES LEADERSHIP ON INFORMATION AND 
COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY 
 
TOKYO 00001302  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1. (U) Sensitive But Unclassified.  Contains Proprietary 
Information. 
 
¶2. (U) Summary:  Okinawa's information technology (IT) sector 
is breaking some new ground and represents a key sector in 
the Prefecture's economy, as shown in emboff's recent visit. 
Prefectural officials reported on successes attracting IT 
investment, making it the second largest sector of Okinawa's 
economy after tourism.  A newly-opened education center 
demonstrated some innovative programs to train local teachers 
and students to incorporate IT and digital content better 
into their educational programs.  American firm Qualcomm 
briefed on a test project that it and Japanese partner KDDI 
are conducting to prepare a 2010 bid for a radio spectrum 
license from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and 
Communications to offer mobile digital broadcasting.  End 
Summary. 
 
------------------------------------ 
Okinawa Promotion of the IT Industry 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶3. (U) Okinawa prefecture has been promoting IT investment 
for over ten years and officials we spoke with reported 
positive results.  Using both national and local funding, 
Okinawa has aimed to attract investment, promote growth, and 
create jobs in the IT sector.  It has also recognized its 
strengths, e.g., low costs, and sought to minimize its 
geographic and infrastructure disadvantages.  Measures have 
included promoting training and R&D to improve local human 
resources, improving local IT infrastructure, providing 
incentives and support for larger firms to invest, as well as 
nurturing local new ventures and targeting a range of related 
industries to encourage a clustering of IT-related 
businesses.  One example of its infrastructure incentives, 
the Okinawa government maintains a free trunk line to both 
the Tokyo and Osaka metropolitan areas, thereby making calls 
from users in Okinawa essentially local calls within both of 
Japan's largest urban centers. 
 
¶4. (U) Okinawa's reputation as a host to call centers may be 
deserved -- the prefecture-provided list of recent IT 
investments shows 45 new call centers established between 
1996 and 2005 -- with other listed ventures including 
software development, information services, data centers, and 
content creation.  The training and experience they bring, 
along with the concentration of firms in the sector, have 
also reportedly led to a sharp increase in local IT firms. 
The prefecture estimates there will be 24,500 local IT jobs 
in 2010, a more than 300 percent increase over the 6,000 jobs 
in 1997.  Further, the promotion of IT has also helped 
diversify Okinawa's local economy.  According to local 
officials, tourism remains Okinawa's largest sector 
contributing an estimated 10.3 percent to the gross regional 
product.  The IT sector, which contributes roughly 5.7 
percent, is now the second largest sector ahead of 
prefectural figures for the U.S. military contribution, which 
they list at 5.4 percent.  Finally, these successes create 
the real possibility Okinawa could provide leadership for 
other parts of Japan seeking to develop or better integrate 
their own IT industries. 
 
------------------------ 
Applying IT in Education 
------------------------ 
 
¶5. (U) The American Chamber of Commerce in Japan (ACCJ) 
recently cited poor IT utilization as a challenge for Japan. 
The ACCJ singled out healthcare, government, and education as 
ripe to achieve both economic and social benefits with 
improved use of IT. 
 
¶6. (U) Emboff and ConGen staff were given a tour of a new 
prefectural education center established to support better 
use of information and communications technologies in 
education.  The facility includes classrooms and equipment 
both to train educators to use IT better in teaching and to 
schools' online activities and programs.  The facility's 
director reported on efforts to make more online educational 
 
TOKYO 00001302  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
content and better integrate such materials into school 
curricula.  They also demonstrated connecting local schools 
to distant counterparts, such as in the case of a local 
student who met her host family and school online before 
going on her exchange program and then kept in touch with her 
home school while she was away. 
 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
Competing to Offer a New Mobile Broadcasting Standard 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
¶7. (U) The telecommunications companies KDDI and Qualcomm are 
conducting tests in Okinawa in preparation for a launch of 
Qualcomm's MediaFLO, a digital content standard already in 
use in the U.S.  They are using the test to gather data to 
support a future application for a nationwide license to 
deliver interactive digital content to remote devices. 
 
¶8. (U) While the tests are local, and as a result the service 
will be available commercially first to Okinawans, the more 
important implications are for consumers throughout Japan. 
Japanese consumers already rely heavily on remote devices and 
ubiquitous Internet access, in some cases bypassing computers 
entirely and relying only on cell phones or other small 
devices to access digital content.  For telecommunications 
services providers such use by customers, especially viewing 
video content, puts a heavy load on existing wireless 
networks.  Service providers, therefore, want to shift some 
of the most popular content to another format and offload it 
from their primary networks.  MediaFLO will also support a 
range of models or uses including content subscriptions, data 
services, interactive advertising, and value-added content 
such as sportscasts with accompanying sports or event 
information. 
 
¶9. (SBU) The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications 
in 2010 will select licensees for a block of radio spectrum 
for multicasting (interactive broadcasting) to remote 
devices.  The Ministry awards such licenses based on a 
detailed review of factors, including technical performance, 
business plan, and financial backing; the documentation 
required to support the application for a license is 
extensive.  Qualcomm advised only NTT DoCoMo and 
KDDI/Qualcomm are currently conducting tests.  Qualcomm 
therefore does not anticipate that other competitors could 
pull together a competitive bid. 
 
¶10. (SBU) NTT DoCoMo is expected to apply to offer services 
using a Japanese-origin standard ISDB-T (Integrated Services 
Digital Broadcasting-Terrestrial), which Japan has promoted 
abroad, in places such as South America.  There had been 
concern MIC might favor a domestic standard, but an MIC 
advisory group reported May 25 its recommendation that the 
Ministry adopt a pro-competitive and technology-neutral 
position and allow two competitors and standards to offer 
competing services. 
 
¶11. (SBU) The Qualcomm and KDDI plan to continue testing 
through the end of 2009.  In 2010, MIC will award spectrum 
licenses and providers will start network build-out and 
commercial trials.  The companies hope then to launch 
commercial service around late summer of 2011, after Japan 
completes its transition from analog to digital broadcasting. 
 KDDI is budgeting approximately $4 billion to invest for the 
network deployment, which it expects to recoup quickly with 
savings resulting from the reduced load of data traffic 
currently competing for bandwidth with voice traffic over its 
network. 
 
¶12. (U) ConGen Naha has cleared this message. 
ZUMWALT