November 10, 2004
European Businesses Protest Possible Ban
European business leaders in Japan lambasted on Wednesday a plan by the nation's ruling party to ban prepaid cell phones as a move that would raise questions about discrimination against a foreign-owned carrier, reports LA Times.
The company most likely to be hurt by such a ban is Vodafone KK, the Japanese unit of the British mobile giant Vodafone Group PLC. About 1.5 million people use Vodafone KK's prepaid phones, or 10 percent of its customers in Japan.
But the European Business Community, which represents more than 3,000 European companies, said in an annual report released Wednesday that the proposal to make the phones illegal is a barrier to open trade and investment.
"Japanese consumers should have the same choice as consumers everywhere else in the world," the report said. "Banning prepaid would also send negative signals to Japan's trading partners and international investors, and raise serious questions of discrimination against the only foreign-owned mobile carrier."
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