Japan Mobile-Phone Operators Add 36% Fewer Users in February
quote.bloomberg.com
Tokyo, March 7 (Bloomberg) -- Japan's three biggest mobile- phone operators added about 36 percent fewer customers in February than in the same month a year ago, the seventh straight monthly decline and further evidence the second-largest wireless market is reaching saturation.
NTT DoCoMo Inc., KDDI Corp. and Vodafone Group Plc's J-Phone Ltd. unit said they together added 465,000 users last month compared with about 726,500 a year ago.
With more than half the population using mobile phones, DoCoMo and KDDI are struggling to sign-up new customers at the rate they did in previous years. The two largest cellular-phone operators added users at a slower pace than J-Phone because of a lack of new handset models, analysts said.
``We continue to see a slowdown in subscriber growth in Japan,'' said Kate Lye, a telecommunications analyst at UBS Warburg Japan Ltd. ``This year, DoCoMo and KDDI haven't developed as many hit products.''
DoCoMo, the world's biggest cell-phone operator by sales, added 254,000 subscribers last month, taking the total to 40.15 million. KDDI, Japan's No. 2 mobile-phone operator, said it added 52,000 subscribers at its main cellular operations last month, reaching a total of 15.93 million.
DoCoMo added 42 percent fewer users than a year ago, while KDDI's new user numbers declined by 64 percent.
J-Phone Gains
By contrast, J-Phone, the nation's No. 3 mobile-phone operator, added 159,000 subscribers in February, 7.4 percent more than the same month a year ago. J-Phone is growing faster than its rivals because of the success of its ``picture-mail'' service that allows users to view and trade digital photographs, analysts say. DoCoMo and KDDI don't offer a similar service.
J-Phone signed up 370,600 users for such services last month, taking the total to 3.86 million, spokesman Naoyuki Nakagaki said. In February, the company added two new models supplied by Sharp Corp. and Nokia Oyj fitted with miniature digital cameras.
``It was another strong month for J-Phone,'' said Bruce Kirk, a telecommunications analyst at Commerz Securities Japan Ltd. ``It's closing in on KDDI in market share.'' Kirk expects J-Phone to have more subscribers than au Corp., KDDI's main cellular unit, by April.
Overall, J-Phone had 11.92 million users at the end of February, leaving it 80,000 short of its target of attracting 12 million customers by March 31.
Wireless Web
Tokyo-based KDDI said it signed up 134,600 users for its latest wireless Web offering, which enables users to view video clips and access global positioning services. KDDI had 422,400 users of such services at the end of February, compared with its target of 800,000 subscribers by March 31.
DoCoMo added 12,700 new users to its high-speed wireless Internet service for a total of 55,700. The unit of Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp. fell further behind its target of signing up 150,000 users by the end of this month for its Foma service.
On October 1, DoCoMo became the first wireless operator in the world to begin offering services based on so-called third- generation, or 3G, cellular technology. The slow pace of user growth ``has got to be a disappointment for DoCoMo,'' said Commerz's Kirk.
DoCoMo shares rose 130,000 yen, or 8.2 percent, to 1.72 million yen. KDDI shares surged 40,000 yen, or 13.8 percent, to 330,000. Japan Telecom Co., J-Phone's local parent, gained 5.4 percent to 427,000.
The gains came on a day when Japan's Nikkei 225 stock average closed at a seven-month high. |
