Japanese Mobile Phone Industry

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Japanese Mobile Phone Industry

• by Qunio Takashima
• 10 Oct. 2006

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Agenda

• 1. Becoming an exciting industry
• 2. Killer Applications
• 3. Carrier Rules
• 4. Going Global vs. Going Local
• 5. Turning Points

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1. Becoming an Exciting Industry

• 1975 - Successful test of mobile communication -
  800 Mhz band
• 1979 - Car phone service
• 1985 - Privatization of NTT, entrance of new
  carriers, "shoulder phone
• 1988 - IDO, DDI Cellular
• 1991 - "Mova" (2.5G) service
• 1992 - DoCoMo
• 1993 - Subscriber 1 million, PDC (2G) standard
  implemented

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Continue

• 1994 - Sale of user terminals, Digital Phone
  Group(Softbank), Tu-Ka
• 1998 - Subscriber 20 million
• 1999 - "i-mode", "EZweb", "J-Sky" (2.5G) service
• 2000 - au merger, Camera phone (J-Phone)
• 2001 - "Foma" (WCDMA) 3G
• 2002 - Subscriber 60 million (2G)

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ContinueMaterial from Companies

• Do Co Mo Sep 2006 IR Presentation Material
• KDDI Face Book 2006

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2. Killer Applications

• "Smart phone"
• Email (picture characters)
• Music
• Camera (Photo, image recognition - e.g. QR-code)
• Game
• Web access
• Suica
• One Seg
• GPS

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3. Carrier Rules

• Industry players
• Carriers (NTT DoCoMo- 52 mil, 56, KDDI - 24 mil,
  26, Softbank - 15 mil, 16)
• Government
• Software/content developers
• Vertical integration
• Carrier Controls
• Hardware
• through OEM arrangement, sales channel, influence
  on pricing (1 yen units)
• Software/content/service
• official site (walled garden) vs. "katte" site
• Connectivity
• other carriers/internet
• Usage fees
• fixed monthly fee (voice, data)

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4. Going Global vs. Going Local

• NTT DoCoMo
• International investments
• Licensing of i-mode
• KDDI
• International roaming
• Softbank Mobile (ex-Vodafone)

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5. Turning Points