DoCoMo losing stranglehold on Japan mobile market
Source: Reuters UK (Original Article)
By Mayumi Negishi
TOKYO (Reuters) - After a decade as the dominant provider,
NTT DoCoMo Inc (9437.T: Quote, Profile, Research) can no longer say it provides most
Japanese with their mobile phones, March figures show, with
smaller rivals grabbing share in a fierce fight ahead of the
start of the academic and business year.
DoCoMo, the mobile wing of former telephone monopoly Nippon
Telegraph and Telephone Corp (9432.T: Quote, Profile, Research), held a 49.7 percent
share of Japan’s total mobile phone and personal handyphone
market at the end of March, down from 50.2 percent in February,
the Telecommunications Carriers Association said on Monday.
DoCoMo said it was the first time in about a decade that
its market share had fallen below half.
“As user needs become varied, it’s hard for any one carrier
to hold on to a majority of market share,” said Shinji
Moriyuki, a senior analyst at Mitsubishi UFJ Securities.
“Softbank is winning in this changing market because it has
a retailer’s eye for pricing, design and services, while the
others are still thinking like telecom firms.”
March is a big month for mobile phones, with carriers
fighting to sign up students and new corporate recruits ahead
of April — the start of the academic and financial year in
Japan.
The race for new signings was won this year by No.3 carrier
Softbank Corp (9984.T: Quote, Profile, Research), just ahead of second-largest carrier
KDDI Corp (9433.T: Quote, Profile, Research).
Despite a marketing blitz to try to keep pace with its
price-cutting rivals, DoCoMo signed on 173,700 net new users in
March — only around a third The Boondocks dvd of Softbank’s 543,900 new
subscribers or KDDI’s 500,500 users. Continued…