HP Becomes Wireless Data Provider in Japan– No Contract Required

Verizon HP netbookNetbooks are the perfect laptops to tap into mobile broadband networks, and wireless data carriers have been quick to offer them to customers. They are offered by carriers globally with heavy subsidies for new customers who are willing to sign a one- or two-year contract for expensive data service. HP has been a major supplier of netbooks to carriers offering such packages, and now it’s taken its game to another level. The California-based company has set the mobile broadband world on its ear, with a surprise announcement for a new business partnership in Japan. HP has partnered with Japan Communications (JCI), a small communications company, to rent wireless data spectrum. This turns HP into a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) in Japan.

Wireless data provision is a growing, lucrative business, and this venture in Japan could easily be a forerunner of things to come in other countries. HP will provide low-cost netbooks, initially $50 to $100, for customers who sign up for prepaid data service in Japan. The netbooks will have SIM cards that can be refilled as needed, thus avoiding the need for customer contracts. HP will be deriving revenue from the data consumption, without having to share that revenue with a carrier. It simply rents the spectrum from JCI. This ups its game to a whole new level, and lets the world’s largest notebook maker get in on the data side of the business.

HP could easily bring this business to the U. S.; it already are partnered with Verizon on the netbook side. HP has been selling netbooks to Verizon for months that the carrier sells at subsidized rates for customers signing 2-year data contracts. The only question is how American carriers will fight HP doing this here, and they certainly will.

(via Business Week)

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