CDMA
CDMA

CDMA

KDDI 3Q Rock'in Results and BREW Comes to a Boil

Berman warns, however, that with a typical handset cost of 37,000 yen in the latest quarter, “it will require about 23 months to cover [the] cost for upgrade customers.” He goes on to state that this creates a difficult situation for KDDI, wherein there’s lots of room for concern for the cost of the 2G-to-3G upgrade cycle. Remember, too, that KDDI has committed to launching a 1X EV-DO upgrade in late 2003. Will it have to commit to another two-year cycle to convert subscribers to the new system? If so, the expense half of their balance sheet may get a little out of control no matter how strong the revenue side remains.

KDDI Earns $256.5 Million on Popularity of 3G Service

KDDI Corp. reported group net profit of 30.87 billion yen for the fiscal third quarter, while boosting its full-year-earnings forecast by five billion yen, citing healthy consumer demand for its flagship “au” mobile-phone service, lower marketing costs, and restructuring. For the quarter ended Dec. 31, KDDI posted sales of 695.08 billion yen and operating profit of 56.80 billion yen.

Japanese Carriers' Packet-fee Addiction

I’ll be the first to cheer when even one of Japan’s mobile Internet troika offer substantial per-event traffic billing regardless of number of packets. Realistically, this probably won’t happen on the 2G networks (the spike in usage would swamp the systems, yada, yada, yada), so the interesting question is: which 3G network will offer re-event billing the first? And which will subsequently offer flat-rate? Don’t be surprised if it’s KDDI with their CDMA technology.

Update: How about that!

Intercarrier TV Calls and Other J-Phone 3G Musings

The level of roaming in particular is a new feature for the market, and they face a sales challenge in figuring out how to sell this to a high-end business crowd – radically unlike J-Phone’s traditional youth target. But I think that today, almost 4 years after the invention of i-mode, provision of wireless Internet is an absolute requirement for success in the Japan market, and the absence of J-Sky access – both Web and mail – with some ill-defined “later in 2003” target is a major weakness.

Deep Thinkers from 3G Mobile World Forum

Deep Thinkers from 3G Mobile World ForumDr. Kamel Maamaria, head of telecoms practice at consultancy AT Kearney, says that lots of people – especially in Europe – have tried to brush off the i-mode model as ‘a Japanese thing.’ But he says that no other model has shown that operators can make money from content. “Vodafone launching V live! is one of the best things that ever happened to DoCoMo – because what Vodafone is doing validates the i-mode model,” he adds. Watch Part I of our in-depth report highlighting Gurus and Deep Thinkers from this month’s 3G Mobile World Forum.

Tokyo Analyst: 2003 Wireless Outlook

Tokyo Analyst: 2003 Wireless Outlook“Camera phone penetration is increasing. With the newest handsets – particularly in DoCoMo’s case – the packet downloads have just surged. So you’ve got much higher packet usage – two to three times higher now on the camera phones,” says CSFB sr. telecoms analyst Mark Berman. Watch our 2003 kick-off program as we pick the brain of one of Tokyo’s most respected industry watchers on what to expect in ’03. DoCoMo, KDDI, J-Phone, ARPU, data trends, and multimedia: these are a few of our favorite things!