Hi Keith,
Re: KDDI 'au Group' & TU-KA Group Wireless Web Subscribers
Sorry for the delay in getting back to you. It has been a busy week.
<< The number I quoted has nothing to do with sub growth. It has to do with the CONVERSION of existing customers with regular service to the wireless internet service >>
Well that makes 1 million even more exaggerated then, doesn't it?. <g>.
I would assume that KDDI is attracting some new subscribers as well as converting some of their existing ones, wouldn't you?
I did understand, what you said, however, when I saw your statement "KDDI is converting something like 1 million customers a month to their new wireless internet services".
My responses to you mentioned conversions and redeployment of services, as well as new subscriber adds (net sub growth).
What occasioned my original "Say What?" was that I had read an article the previous evening stating that "between April 2000 and September 2000, the total number of cell phone users in Japan increased by 4,597,100. But the DDI cellular group gained only a tiny 200 subscribers, while Tu-Ka, a DDI phone unit that operates a different system (PDC 1.5 GHz), added 295,500.".
I had also just looked at the total cdmaOne subscriber numbers for the combined KDDI 'au' group (6.7 million) through October end, and noticed the statement "In October, the total number of users accessing the Internet through cell phones in Japan jumped 10.7 percent from September to 21.8 But of that total, KDDI's EZ-Web only accounted for 19 percent while DoCoMo's "i-mode" service held 64 percent.".
1 million subs converting to wwa per month seemed a tad high.
At any rate, I just ran the numbers using Slackers source ("Japan: Number of Subscribers by Carriers"), looking at each of the last 6 months in an effort to figure out just how well (or poorly) KDDI was doing. .
I was pleasantly surprised to find that while the cdmaOne growth rate is not spectacular, net adds are higher than I estimated, and DDI has over 4 million wireless web customers using cdmaOne and PDC.
These are the results of a drill down on the numbers:
* KDDI "EZ-WEB" net subscribers increased 404,683 per month (average). This includes TU-KA Group which uses PDC 1.5 GHz.
* KDDI cdmaOne net subscribers increased 232,933 per month (average).
* KDDI PDC net subscribers decreased 194,200 per month (average).
* TU-KA PDC net subscribers increased 38,633 per month (average).
There is one thing that I am not positive of, but that I will try to verify.
I am under the impression that KDDI's TU-KA Group uses wireless web "EZ-WEB" on PDC which would account for the discrepancy between the "EZ-WEB" adds and the cdmaOne adds.
I know they offer "EZ-WEB". I don't think they offer cdmaOne (yet). It is also possible that "EZ-WEB" may be offered on PDC by KDDI (DDI and/or IDO)
My source documentation is here:
tca.or.jp
You may wish to drill down further than I did, if you think I've reached some wrong conclusions. Could be typos, miscalculations and these are unaudited. <g>
Here are my summaries of Net Increases in (KDDI's (DDI + IDO + TU-KA ) "EZ-Web" internet services and cdmaOne (IS95B) subs from both new adds and conversions from cdmaOne (no web service), PDC or PHS:
=========================================
April Ending KDDI (combined) Sub Totals
* "EZ-Web" Total subs = 1,794,600
* _cdmaOne Total subs = 5,203,200
* KDDI PDC Total subs = 4,965,400
* TUKA PDC Total subs = 3,568,400
=========================================
May
* "EZ-Web" = + 401,200
* _cdmaOne = + 292,800
* KDDI PDC = - 267,800
* TUKA PDC = + 69,900
June
* "EZ-Web" = + 494,900
* _cdmaOne = + 354,300
* KDDI PDC = - 330,600
* TUKA PDC = + 52,400
July
* "EZ-Web" = + 358,000
* _cdmaOne = + 177,700
* KDDI PDC = - 236,100
* TUKA PDC = + 52,400
August
* "EZ-Web" = + 466,300
* _cdmaOne = + 223,800
* KDDI PDC = - 203,100
* TUKA PDC = + 44,800
September
* "EZ-Web" = + 377,500
* _cdmaOne = + 181,400
* KDDI PDC = - 160,200
* TUKA PDC = + 27,700
October
* "EZ-Web" = + 330,000
* _cdmaOne = + 167,600
* KDDI PDC = - 156,500
* TUKA PDC = + 11,200
================================================
October Ending KDDI (au Group) Total Subscribers
* "EZ-Web" Total subs = 4,222,700
* _cdmaOne Total subs = 6,600,800
* KDDI PDC Total subs = 3,800,200
* TUKA PDC Total subs = 3,800,200
================================================
Total Net KDDI (au Group) Adds for last 6 months
* "EZ-Web" = + 2,428,100
* _cdmaOne = + 1,397,600
* KDDI PDC = - 1,165,200
* TUKA PDC = + 231,800
Average Monthly KDDI Net Adds for last 6 months
* "EZ-Web" = + 404,683 subs / mo.
* _cdmaOne = + 232,933 subs / mo.
* KDDI PDC = - 194,200 subs / mo.
* TUKA PDC = + 38,633 _subs / mo.
================================================
Have a great weekend.
- Eric - |
