Brastel Telecom
Brastel Telecom ブラステル株式会社 most commonly known as Brastel, is a Japanese telecommunications company based in Tokyo. They distribute international prepaid calling cards within Japan and Asia via convenience stores. Brastel's largest demographic are Brazilian expats living in Japan. Brastel is one of the most commonly used calling services in Japan. The company was started in 1996, originally selling call back services. In 2000 they released the first rechargeable calling card in Japan. This product shortly becomes Brastel's biggest source of income. Recently they have started to invest in IP phone technology through their FLiP and Basix  services. They are also noted for their philanthropic work in Brazilian communities as well as for their involvement in the building of schools, providing seminars and lectures for the poor and disadvantaged communities around the world. The promotion of Brazilian culture in Japan has played a prominent part of Brastel since the creation of sub company Tupiniquim Entertainment in 2005. Tupiniquim Entertainment primarily concentrates on the promotion of Brazilian movies, music, actresses/actors and culture in Japan. History. Early history (1996-2000). Brastel Telecom was formed in 1996 by Junji Tanabe and Kendi Kawai, which originally provided callback system services  mainly to the Brazilian community in Japan. In 1998, an agreement with KDDI (formally KDD) allowed the company to acquire international connections from Japan. In 2000 Brastel released a rechargeable prepaid calling card called Brastel Card (formally Brastel Smartphone Card) and it was available for free in convenience stores and ethnic shops, restaurants and bars throughout Japan. Shortly after they introduced a paperless recharge system, Smart Pit, developed by NTT Comware. The Smart Pit system utilises a barcode printed on the back of the card allowing payments without coupons. Expansion (2002-2005). In 2002 Brastel entered into agreements to use  the Japanese PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network), which is controlled by the major carriers in Japan. This allowed the company to acquire connections within Japanese territory, making it possible for them to start offering their own direct prefix numbers. Shortly after, Brastel entered the American market, promoting its services in California, USA, targeting the Latino and Japanese communities. The Internet Age (2006-2016). In 2006 broadband internet became the standard for home-based internet connections. Increased bandwidth allowed free calling services such as Skype, Google Talk and iChat to emerge. To deal with this new form of communication Brastel diverged  into new areas; investing in online Live Support (Japan only launched in October), providing customers real-time assistance over the internet in both English and Japanese. During the same year they opened an office in São Paulo, Brazil. In January 2007, Brastel launches the FLIP service, an IP phone that allows customers to call domestic and international phones via the internet. Three months later, they launch Basix, an IP phone service designed for medium and small sized companies based on the ASP system. While FLiP is aimed at the home user, Basix is aimed at companies looking to replace or  buy a PBX system. Culture. In 2005 Brastel add a new cultural division, Tupiniquim Entertainment which primarily focuses on Brazilian culture. Tupiniquim Entertainment's main event is the Festival Cinema Brasil, a yearly event that showcases films from Brazil. This cultural division has also invited several musicians from Brazil to perform in Japan, as well as released CDs and DVDs of such artists in Japanese stores. Corporate culture. Brastel has a unique working culture considering it is a Japanese company, within the work environment employees are not required to wear a suit or tie, there are at least 3 main  languages spoken: Portuguese, Japanese and English with many more spoken by the 15 or more different nationalities working there. Due to the large Brazilian work force many aspects of the company are tailored for Brazilians including a Brazilian lorry arriving twice a week with Brazilian food and goods. Also the employees can order a Brazilian bento every day which is delivered direct to the company. In previous years the company has held an international food festival, everyone is encouraged to cook food from their home country and bring it into work to share. Brastel has also contributed to various charities  such as building a school for children in Cambodia, donating money to the countries affected by the tsunami of 2004 and the SARS virus. Brastel Card. The Brastel Card is the main product from Brastel, released in 2000 the card has gone through many iterations with the latest one released in November 2009 under the name of Brastel Card. Like prior cards it can be used to make national and international calls and be recharged via credit card, convenience stores or vouchers. In addition to the standard calling services Brastel also offer International Access to call from other countries, Credit  Transfer, International Call Forwarding, International Recharge of mobile phones, IP Access and SMS text messages. Alongside the standard calling features present in the Brastel Card, the card can now be linked to the FLiP service offered by Brastel. FLiP is the VoIP phone service sold by Brastel, the Brastel Card can be used for cheap international calls and for payment of monthly subscription fees and calling fees. In recent the FLIP and BASIX phones have become more a relevant in the survival of Brastel as a company, with the popularity of Skype, Brastel has had to face competition from free  software with free calls. Their answer has been FLIP, a VoIP service with a monthly fee starting from ¥500 per month. With the current financial climate time will only tell if FLIP will turn out to be a success in the face of Skype and other free VoIP services.