Page 67 - Intelligent Communication Systems
P. 67
7
NEWLY DEVELOPED
TELECOMMUNICATION
SERVICES
The union of information processing technology and telecommunications has led
to the development and practical use of a variety of more human-friendly telecom-
munication services. For example, toll-free phone service has been widely used in
advanced countries. Calls for flight reservations, hotel reservations, and online
shopping are frequently toll-free. More than 50% of all subscriber calls are toll-
free in the United States. In Japan, toll-free phone service is increasing year by year.
A majority of calls throughout the world will be toll-free calls in the near future.
Caller ID display service has been introduced by means of ISDN network
service. A subscriber can identify the caller's phone number before picking up a
phone and can decide whether or not to pick up the call.
The mobile phone market is rising rapidly in many countries. In Japan, more
than 60 million people use mobile phones. NIT DoCoMo, Japan, sells the i-mode
mobile phone, which provides Internet access functions. It has been a great hit and
has lead to a rapid increase in the number of Internet users in Japan.
We will now take a look at some of these new telecommunication services.
51
