Seventh International Conference on Communication & Media Studies

Abstract

Despite the continuous call to internationalize internet studies, a coherent examination of different models of internet development beyond the Silicon-Valley-based paradigm is yet to be seen. In the Asian context, scholars aiming to marry internet and regional studies have mostly focused on historicizing the internet in individual nation-states, and have argued for more attention to the state-led nature of local internet industries. Going beyond the geopolitical constraints of the former approach and generality of the latter, this study comparatively examines two early internet service provider (ISP) projects in Japan and China to delineate a model of internet development led by (wholly or partially) state-owned mobile telecommunication companies, which differs from standard internet narratives in the Anglo-American world. After delineating the institutional history of the two dominant mobile telecommunications companies in Japan and China – NTT Docomo and China Mobile – and the early internet scene in the two countries, I describe how the crisis of the telecommunications and internet industry in the late 1990s prompted the creation of the “i-mode” ISP project by NTT Docomo in 1999, which inspired China Mobile’s “Monternet” project in 2000. Through analyzing these two projects, I propose a telecom-led model of internet development different from the Western model. The rise and fall of these two projects in the early 21st century are also discussed. Finally, I argue for the importance of examining alternative internet histories by demonstrating how the logic from the telecom-led model are manifested in the current internet industry in China and Japan.