Dec. Subs: KDDI WINs Again, Vodafone’s Up!

KDDI has taken more than 50 percent of new subscribers for the third month in a row, and there is good news at last for Vodafone, for the first time since June the struggling carrier actually broke the 100,000 barrier. DoCoMo however ended the year down in Japanese carriers unrelenting battle to get more cellies in pockets and handbags. The latest figures out show that KDDI took a huge 289,500 subscribers, more than double that of DoCoMo’s 114,600.

There are several stories in this, but we’ll wait until we check things out in more detail to draw some conclusions. First of all, KDDI is really plowing ahead. In December, KDDI was just shy of adding 300,000 subscribers, and there have only been two months in the last 12 when any carrier has surpassed this figure. Readers might also like to note that KDDI took 57 percent of adds in the month, 72 percent of adds in November and 53 percent in October.

DoCoMo by comparison had a terrible month in November, attracting some 63,800 adds, so the December figures are a recovery. November was the first month in 12 that DoCoMo failed to attract fewer than 100,000 subscribers.Finally, the figures presented some good news for Vodafone. Until June this year J-Phone’s lowest month had been 132,400 (May) but from the summer onwards, the company’s attractiveness plunged. Between July and November, the company attracted a not-so-grand total of 220,000, about what KDDI picked up each month, at an average of 44,000 per month with September bottoming out at 26,300.

We figure the launch of the Sanyo V810SA Super Slider, the very Sharp 2Mpix V601SH and the V601N NEC Telly Cellie (also pretty popular with WWJ viewers!) must have done some good work increasing the company’s attractiveness to consumers, aided by the huge packet price cut Happy Packet advertising campaign. We wonder, if only they’d had another couple of kewl keitai out, what might have happened!

– The Editors