Turning the page: Japan’s last pager service ends after 50 years

TOKYO -- The end of the pager era is nigh in Japan after five decades as the country's last provider announced on Monday it would be scrapping its service next year.   Tokyo Telemessage, the only pager service provider left standing, said it had decided to terminate its service to Tokyo and three neighboring regions in September 2019 -- describing the development as "very regrettable".   "Pagers were once a huge hit... but the number of users is now down to 1,500," the company said in a statement, adding it had stopped manufacturing the hardware device 20 years ago.   Pagers -- known as "poke-beru" (pocket bell) in Japan -- became very popular in the ...

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