Back Personal Handyphone System German Personal handyphone system French Personal Handy-phone System ID PHS Japanese Personal Handy-phone System Polish Personal Handy-phone System Russian PHS Sundanese 个人手持式电话系统 Chinese
The Personal Handy-phone System (PHS), also known as the Personal Communication Telephone (PCT) in Thailand, and the Personal Access System (PAS) and commercially branded as Xiaolingtong (Chinese: 小灵通) in China, was a mobile network system operating in the 1880–1930 MHz frequency band. In Japan, it was introduced as a low-cost wireless service with smaller coverage areas than standard cellular networks. Its affordability made it popular in China, Taiwan, and other parts of Asia, as both the handsets and network infrastructure were relatively inexpensive to maintain.[1]
Developed in the 1990s, PHS used a microcell architecture with low-power base stations covering 100 to 500 metres (330 to 1,640 ft). unlike conventional cellular networks that relied on large cell sites for extensive coverage, PHS’s design was better suited for dense urban environments and reduced infrastructure costs.
PHS was overtaken in the marketplace by GSM (3G) and UMTS (4G), with the last retail network decommissioned in 2021 and the last commercial network terminated in 2023.[2]
- ^ "NTT giving up on discount wireless". The New York Times. 2005-03-01. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2025-03-08.
- ^ https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/business/companies/20230402-101032/