Sunday, January 28, 2007
Mobile subscriptions grow by 5 million in Japan during 2006
Japan's mobile subscriber numbers grew by about 5 million in 2006. Because of the much higher ARPU, Japan's mobile market again grew by a couple of Finlands during 2006. A growing number of people have more than one mobile phone, to take advantage of the best rates, eg for mail, voice and data. We expect growth to continue. Our analysis below shows that KDDI's and AU's gains are a lot larger than a superficial view of the statistics reveals - see our Figure below. Find a detailed review in the latest edition of our JCOMM-Report.
KDDI's subscriber gains during 2006 are much bigger than a superficial analysis reveals (see figure above):
KDDI's AU mobile service gained about 4.2 million new subscribers during 2006 - more than twice as many than DoCoMo's cellular service, which gained about 1.8 million new subscriptions.
Currently, KDDI is shutting down it's TuKa 2G service, and DoCoMo is shutting down it's PHS service. Both services together lost more than 2 million subscribers during 2006 - this is a much larger movement than due to number portability introduced on Oct 24, 2006.
KDDI offers both number portability and mobile email portability, and reports surprise that many former low-end TuKa users moved to top-end high-speed WIN (2.4 Mbps) data services.
For KDDI, enticing TuKa subscribers to move to high-end/high-speed AU services was an excellent preparation for number portability, and helped KDDI win in the first stage.
KDDI's subscriber gains during 2006 are much bigger than a superficial analysis reveals (see figure above):
KDDI's AU mobile service gained about 4.2 million new subscribers during 2006 - more than twice as many than DoCoMo's cellular service, which gained about 1.8 million new subscriptions.
Currently, KDDI is shutting down it's TuKa 2G service, and DoCoMo is shutting down it's PHS service. Both services together lost more than 2 million subscribers during 2006 - this is a much larger movement than due to number portability introduced on Oct 24, 2006.
KDDI offers both number portability and mobile email portability, and reports surprise that many former low-end TuKa users moved to top-end high-speed WIN (2.4 Mbps) data services.
For KDDI, enticing TuKa subscribers to move to high-end/high-speed AU services was an excellent preparation for number portability, and helped KDDI win in the first stage.
Labels: au, docomo, Japan, KDDI, mnp, mobile, mobile number portability, subscriber numbers, subscriptions, wireless
Friday, January 05, 2007
Mobile Number Portability (MNP) in Japan
Mobile number portability created winners and losers in only two months - the main business challenge for Japanese operators is to avoid a price war.
KDDI is the clear winner in the first round, DoCoMo suffers a setback, and SoftBank did better than expected.
Today we released the 23rd edition of our JCOMM-Report - about 250 pages of overview and analysis of Japan's telecom sector.
KDDI gains 524,000 subscribers in Oct & Nov 2006. DoCoMo for the first time ever since it was founded experienced a net loss of subscriptions.
KDDI gains 600,000 new EZweb subscribers, Japanese operators earn much from mobile internet - subscription data show even better results for KDDI's EZweb.
KDDI is the clear winner in the first round, DoCoMo suffers a setback, and SoftBank did better than expected.
Today we released the 23rd edition of our JCOMM-Report - about 250 pages of overview and analysis of Japan's telecom sector.
KDDI gains 524,000 subscribers in Oct & Nov 2006. DoCoMo for the first time ever since it was founded experienced a net loss of subscriptions.
KDDI gains 600,000 new EZweb subscribers, Japanese operators earn much from mobile internet - subscription data show even better results for KDDI's EZweb.
Labels: docomo, KDDI, mnp, mobile number portability, softbank, subscriber numbers
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
SoftBank's Gold Plan - Zero Yen?
SoftBank acquired Vodafone KK for about US$ 15 billion, essentially with a very large loan. Thus SoftBank is under enormous pressure to succeed in Japan's very competitive mobile phone market, where Number Portability was introduced on October 24, 2006.
Recent subscriber number statistics and our observations indicate that SoftBank looks likely to succeed in turning round the mobile phone company they acquired from Vodafone and renamed Softbank Mobile.
During the week of October 24, 2006, when number portability was introduced, Masayoshi Son introduced a firework of new pricing plans - on the surface these pricing plans all advertise "Zero Yen", ie nominally the price of buying mobile phones from SoftBank appears to be ZERO.
Of course, with a consortium of lenders anxious to be repaid, SoftBank has no possibility of giving away mobile phones for free. In actual fact, our analysis shows that SoftBank at the end of the day actually increased prices slightly. SoftBank introduced a series of pricing plans, where customers essentially purchase the mobile phone handsets under an installment plan running over variable periods, but typically 48 months, with zero down payment at the time of initial purchase. So in fact, the terminals are not sold for ZERO YEN at all - this issue led to an investigation by Japan's Fair Trade Commission.
As is usual practice in Japan, the Fair Trade Commission did not single out Softbank, but critized each one of the major mobile operators for different unfair advertising practices, and encouraged each mobile operator to be more accurate in advertising discount plans.
SoftBank got away lightly - the image below shows on the left hand side the initial ZERO YEN announcement, which a few days later was hidden by a more careful explanation... (the Zero Yen poster can still be seen shining through the paper above...)
Recent subscriber number statistics and our observations indicate that SoftBank looks likely to succeed in turning round the mobile phone company they acquired from Vodafone and renamed Softbank Mobile.
During the week of October 24, 2006, when number portability was introduced, Masayoshi Son introduced a firework of new pricing plans - on the surface these pricing plans all advertise "Zero Yen", ie nominally the price of buying mobile phones from SoftBank appears to be ZERO.
Of course, with a consortium of lenders anxious to be repaid, SoftBank has no possibility of giving away mobile phones for free. In actual fact, our analysis shows that SoftBank at the end of the day actually increased prices slightly. SoftBank introduced a series of pricing plans, where customers essentially purchase the mobile phone handsets under an installment plan running over variable periods, but typically 48 months, with zero down payment at the time of initial purchase. So in fact, the terminals are not sold for ZERO YEN at all - this issue led to an investigation by Japan's Fair Trade Commission.
As is usual practice in Japan, the Fair Trade Commission did not single out Softbank, but critized each one of the major mobile operators for different unfair advertising practices, and encouraged each mobile operator to be more accurate in advertising discount plans.
SoftBank got away lightly - the image below shows on the left hand side the initial ZERO YEN announcement, which a few days later was hidden by a more careful explanation... (the Zero Yen poster can still be seen shining through the paper above...)
Labels: mnp, mobile number portability, softbank
