Brastel Telecom was formed in 1996[1] by Junji Tanabe and Kendi Kawai, and primarily provided callback system services to the Brazilian community in Japan.

Shortly after they introduced a paperless recharge system, Smart Pit, developed by NTT Comware, which utilized a bar code printed on the back of the card that allowed for payment without coupons.

[2] In 2002 Brastel entered into agreements to use the Japanese PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network), which is controlled by the major carriers in Japan.

Shortly after, Brastel entered the American market, promoting its services in California, USA, targeting the Latino and Japanese communities.

To deal with this new form of communication, Brastel diverged into new areas: investing in online Live Support (Japan-only, launched in October), and providing customers with real-time assistance over the internet in both English and Japanese.

Three months later, they launched Basix, an IP phone service designed for medium and small sized companies based on the ASP system.

[citation needed] Brastel has also contributed to various charities, built a school for children in Cambodia, and donated money to the countries affected by the tsunami of 2004 and the SARS virus.

In recent years, the FLiP and BASIX phones have become more relevant to the survival of Brastel as a company, especially due to the popularity of Skype and similar services.