Changing Japanese Mobile Market Landscape

Stuttgart, Germany – 9th August, 2006 – Japan’s mobile market is starting to face new challenges. Although, InfoCom’s Teleseeq Database projects that the Japanese mobile market will grow at 4% per year in terms of net revenues for the next six years, a tough outlook for the market leader NTT DoCoMo is indicated as it faces challenges from regulation and new competition.

Japanese alternative mobile carriers’ strong performance has helped in the decrease of NTT DoCoMo’s majority market share in terms of net revenues from 61% in 2002 to 53% in 2005 (see Fig. 1). Liberalisation and new technologies have helped mobile operators such as KDDI, Softbank (which acquired Vodafone K.K. in early 2006), Astel and Willcom to penetrate the mobile market, attracting new customers through attractive pricing, 3G and other innovative mobile data services. In terms of competition among PHS service providers, NTT DoCoMo and Astel have opted to stop accepting new subscribers to their PHS service as both companies continue to experience disappointing subscriber figures with Astel announcing to concentrate on WiMax services. Willcom, on the other hand, has experienced growth in 1Q06 with about 3.8 m subscribers up from the 3.0 m it had in the beginning of 2005, attracting users mainly from its competitive pricing.

Softbank will figure more prominently in the future as it leverages its strength in data-communications services, which the company hopes will transfer well into mobile data services to attract more customers as well as competing directly with NTT to provide triple or quadruple play services. NTT DoCoMo will also face more competition in the future as the regulator implements Mobile Number Portability in November 2006 and the entrance of new competitors such as IP Mobile and eMobile, who will start offering their own mobile services to an already saturated Japanese market in 2007.

Fig. 1–Mobile market share based on revenues


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