It looks like Docomo regained the subscriber net add lead in an overall weak month. KDDI (as well as Verizon) needs the MSM6500 based handsets to begin making a serious dent with EV-DO.
quote.bloomberg.com
DoCoMo Regains Lead in New Phone Subscribers in Japan (Update1)
July 7 (Bloomberg) -- NTT DoCoMo Inc., the world's second- largest mobile-phone company, in June signed up more new mobile- phone subscribers than rivals in Japan for the first time in nine months after it introduced new pricing plans for Internet use.
DoCoMo, which controls 56 percent of Japan's $73 billion annual market for mobile services, added 166,300 net new users in the month. KDDI Corp., Japan's second-largest mobile-phone company, signed up 153,500 and Vodafone Group Plc's Japanese unit, the nation's third-largest mobile-phone company, added 64,100.
DoCoMo is accelerating takeup of its so-called third- generation FOMA service, which allows users to access e-mail and download music and photos more quickly than older networks. KDDI, which controls about 70 percent of Japan's third-generation market, is being pressured as DoCoMo offers better handsets and lower prices, say analysts such as Kazuyo Katsuma.
``DoCoMo's subscriber growth for the latest generation phones is faster than expected,'' said Katsuma, an analyst at J.P. Morgan Securities Asia Pte in Tokyo who has an ``Overweight'' rating on Tokyo-based DoCoMo shares and a ``Neutral'' on KDDI shares. ``DoCoMo is nipping at KDDI's heels'' for subscribers to newer services, he said.
KDDI led DoCoMo in adding new subscribers in the eight months to May. DoCoMo last month added 572,600 new users to FOMA, while Tokyo-based KDDI signed up 341,600 users for its comparable CDMA2000 1X service.
Vodafone's Japanese unit, which began providing third- generation services in December 2002, last month added a record 26,900 customers to the service as its latest handsets, made by Sharp Corp. helped attract customers, company spokesman Arata Kurihara said.
``Vodafone is recovering,'' Katsuma said. ``It rolled out attractive handsets for the latest generation services and increased its handset line-up for the old generation.'' |
