Japanese major mobile carrier KDDI and Facebook Japan tie up on new shopping experiences using 5G

TOKYO, Nov 28, 2019, Kyodo. Major Japanese mobile phone carrier KDDI Corp and Facebook Inc’s Japanese unit said Wednesday they will collaborate on offering new shopping experiences through next-generation ultrafast 5G communications networks, Japan Today reported.

The two will open a pop-up store next spring in Tokyo that will allow customers to virtually try on makeup or clothing using pictures of themselves by scanning the items with their smartphones. The service uses the photo and video-sharing app Instagram, which is owned by Facebook.

After scanning the items, customers can also receive assistance and explanations of the products from virtual shop attendants on their smartphone screens. The virtual assistants can respond in several different languages to cater to the growing number of foreign travelers, a KDDI spokesman said.

5G can deliver data transmission speeds around 100 times faster than the current 4G networks. It will be commercially available next spring in Japan.

Enabling more seamless imagery with lower latency, more vivid images and sharper motion, 5G is expected to be widely used in areas such as autonomous driving, gaming and remote medical surgery.

Rival Japanese mobile phone carriers SoftBank Corp and NTT Docomo Inc are also teaming up with U.S. tech companies to enhance their services and tap into the prospective 5G market.

They are looking to enhance services beyond merely providing phone and internet connectivity after a legal revision that came into effect in October banned carriers from earning revenues by placing high fees on data usage in exchange for subsidizing device purchases.

NTT Docomo said Tuesday subscribers to its high-capacity mobile phone plan will be entitled to free one-year membership of on-demand service Amazon Prime operated by Amazon.com Inc. from Dec 1. SoftBank also offers unlimited access to social network sites such as Facebook.

Tags: Japan