| Abstract |
If one needs to cite a showcase for the industry model on mobile data, Japan is certainly one of the prime examples with a striving mobile content business and a large number of mobile data subscribers. There are now over 70 million mobile phone subscribers in Japan with over 55 million being mobile data subscribers. It is expected that the revenue share between mobile data and voice will be 50/50 in 2005 compared to around 18/82 in 2002.
For 3G, KDDI now has nearly 4.7 million subscribers while Docomo has just over 150,000. J-phone, on the other hand, has just started that W-CDMA based 3G services in December 2002. The significant difference in subscriber numbers between the two prime Japanese 3G carriers, Docomo and KDDI, could point to a lesson on "how to roll out 3G services". With a total subscriber number of around 11 million, KDDI has a much smaller subscriber base and they launched their CDMA2000 1X based 3G service only in April 2002 while Docomo launched their W-CDMA based 3G FOMA service in October 2001. With 4.7 million out of 11 million subscribers now with 3G, the penetration rate of KDDI 3G services is well over 40%. On the other hand, despite the vast content and subscriber base that boasts over 40 million 2G subscribers and over 58,000 content sites, Docomo has only a 0.3% penetration of 3G in their total subscribers.
This paper will investigate why DoCoMo's 3G services have been so slow in comparison with those from KDDI, and will draw some lessons about the Japanese market which may contrast with those from other Asian and non-Asian markets.
|