Japan posts strong cellphone user growth in March
Reuters, 04.07.03, 5:03 AM ET
forbes.com
TOKYO, April 7 (Reuters) - The number of mobile phone users
in Japan grew at the fastest rate in two years in March, an
industry body said on Monday, amid continued strong demand for
camera-equipped handsets and high-speed third-generation (3G)
services.
The number of mobile phone users rose by 1.29 million to
75.66 million in March, the largest monthly growth since March
2001, the Telecommunications Carriers Association said.
Japan's total population is around 126 million, meaning six
out of 10 people now carry mobile phones.
Cellphone sales usually peak in March, the month in which
people buy handsets ahead of a new business and academic year
starting in April, but the net growth last month was higher than
1.12 million new users reeled in a year ago.
"It's mostly camera phones. Plus, we are also doing fairly
well in 3G these days," an NTT DoCoMo Inc <9437.T> spokesman
said.
DoCoMo, Japan's top cellphone operator, said its camera-phone
users now numbered over nine million on April 5, putting it in
sight of the top spot in the domestic photo-phone market held by
J-Phone Co Ltd.
As of March 31, photo-phone users at J-Phone, the Japanese
unit of Britain's Vodafone Group Plc <VOD.L>, totalled 9.015
million. DoCoMo did not give an exact figure.
DoCoMo hit the nine million mark just over 10 months after
launching its first photo phone last June.
As for 3G services, DoCoMo, Japan's largest company by market
capitalisation, attracted 138,400 new users in March, up sharply
from 37,000 in February.
DoCoMo's 3G users totalled 330,000 in March, hitting its
target of 320,000.
Demand for DoCoMo's 3G service has picked up since the launch
earlier this year of three advanced handsets with longer battery
life.
However, it is still behind rival KDDI Corp <9433.T> in this
sector.
KDDI's 3G service won 914,100 new users in March, which
brought its total 3G subscribers to 6.8 million, just short of
its target of seven million users.
Combining standard mobile phone users with subscribers of the
personal handyphone system, which has been shunned in Japan as it
often fails to work in fast-moving vehicles, cellphone users
totalled 81.1 million in March.
Following is a breakdown of the net number of new subscribers
over the past three months at mobile phone services offered by
Japan's top three carriers -- DoCoMo, KDDI and J-Phone -- as well
as total subscribers as of the end of March.
Net subscribers refers to the number of new subscriptions
minus cancellations. Numbers may not add up as rounded figures
are used.
NEW SUBSCRIBERS
OPERATOR JAN FEB MARCH TOTAL
DoCoMo 159,000 194,000 633,000 43,861,000
au (KDDI) 115,000 134,300 331,900 14,049,100
Tu-Ka (KDDI) -21,300 -25,700 -19,000 3,783,300
J-Phone 133,400 164,800 342,300 13,963,300
----------------------------------------------------------
TOTAL 386,100 468,400 1,288,100 75,656,700
NEW USERS OF INTERNET ACCESS SERVICES
OPERATOR JAN FEB MARCH TOTAL
DoCoMo's i-mode 360,000 362,000 826,000 37,758,000
KDDI's EZweb 174,200 184,500 408,600 12,540,500
J-Phone's J-sky 173,300 164,300 278,600 12,161,800
----------------------------------------------------------
TOTAL 707,500 710,900 1,514,200 62,460,300
NEW USERS OF THIRD-GENERATION SERVICES
OPERATOR JAN FEB MARCH TOTAL
DoCoMo 2,600 37,000 138,400 330,000
au (KDDI) 639,000 579,400 914,100 6,805,900
J-Phone 3,500 5,200 15,300 25,200
------------------------------------------------------------
TOTAL 645,100 621,600 1,067,800 7,161,100
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