Vodafone
Vodafone

Vodafone

Japan Rail Launches Mobile Wallet Phone Service

Japan Rail Launches Mobile Wallet Phone Service by Mobikyo KKOn a sunny Saturday morning here in Tokyo, Japan Rail launched their long-awaited Mobile Suica service, which will allow customers to use their FeliCa-enabled Osaifu ketai (wallet phone) to get into the station simply by swiping their handset past the turnstile reader. The service will be available at almost 900 stations located in the Tokyo, Sendai, Niigata, and Kansai regions. On roll-out day the system supports 12 handset models from DoCoMo and KDDI; none of the three available Vodafone units will be supported at launch. Interesting to note that DoCoMo’s latest F702iD, just announced last week, will be accepted as well. Until now, it has in fact not been possible to use your phone as a train ticket in Japan. Despite all the live demonstrations, trade-show hype and media speculation around FeliCa, the FeliCa-based Suica cards used by JR and the FeliCa-based handsets sold by DoCoMo, KDDI and Vodafone have been incompatible. As the well-established ‘Suica’ card is also accepted at many shops (including Bic Camera, a major electronics chain) in and around JR stations, this move will undoubtedly push up the volume of mobile payments made in 2006. It should come as no surprise that NTT DoCoMo announced on 26 January that sales of their FeliCa handsets passed the 10 million mark, a notable increased from the stated [.pdf] circulation of 7.7 million units in November 2005.

3GSM World Congress 2006 Awards

The nominees have been announced for this year’s 3GSM awards with the winners to take center stage during a VIP gala dinner in Barcelona’s fabulous National Palace on 14 February 2006. According to the organizers, Mobile communications as a new entertainment and information medium has become the ‘fourth screen,’ after television, cinema and the PC, capable of delivering a vast array of media rich content to users throughout the world. This year there are new categories for mobile gaming, sports, music, film and video content.

W-CDMA 900-MHz Calls Achieved

Nortel and QUALCOMM have successfully completed HSDPA calls in the 900-MHz band, a spectrum capable of delivering wireless broadband such as mobile TV, video-on-demand, video telephony and DSL-like services to rural areas. W-CDMA in the 900-MHz band is a cost-effective way to deliver nationwide high-speed wireless coverage. It achieves a 60-percent reduction in cell sites required to serve rural areas and delivers improved quality of service in urban areas by enhancing in-building penetration by 25 percent, according to the technology’s proponents.

Vodafone Japan New 3G Phones: Details, Audio Interview

Last week was a rare clean sweep in Japan’s tooth-and-nail handset race as each of the Big Three carriers in turn announced multiple new 3G models at splashy press events. Across the field, we saw an onboard 4-GB hard drive and a digiTV phone from KDDI, the 702i ‘designer’ models from DoCoMo and Japan’s first Samsung phone and new 3G data services from Vodafone. Vodafone Japan New 3G Phones: Details, Audio Interview

It’s no simple coincidence that this week the carriers are announcing their third-quarter financial results: it’s super vital to have a flashy new set of handsets to point to when presenting your report card to the analysts in Tokyo and London. Also, spring is the premiere mobile sales season in Japan and the models announced last week should hit the streets around cheery blossom time.

If Vodafone Japan’s market troubles in the past couple of years can be blamed on handset mix, then the new phones may go a long way to to fixing Big Red’s market position. Today’s WWJ Portable Reportable MP3 audio report features an interview with Vodafone Japan from last week’s press event with in-depth details on their new 3G models, which include phones from Samsung, Toshiba, Sharp and NEC, and comments on competitive positioning in the market.

Vodafone Japan 3Q Results Released

Extract: Vodafone K.K.’s 3G devices increased by 564,600 in the quarter, bringing the number of 3G subscribers to 2,318,200, whilst market share of 3G net additions remained fairly constant throughout the quarter at just over 10%. Blended ARPU for the quarter was down 3.7% year on year, an improvement from the 5.4% fall recorded in the quarter to September. The continued fall in ARPU reflects the loss of higher value customers in the previous year and competitive pressures on pricing. Blended ARPU for the quarter was down 3.7% year on year, an improvement from the 5.4% fall recorded in the quarter to September. The continued fall in ARPU reflects the loss of higher value customers in the previous year and competitive pressures on pricing. The improved trend is due in part to the positive impact from the new range of flat-rate plans, which are generating additional usage. Service revenue fell 4.5% year on year due to the decline in ARPU. Voice revenues fell 6.2%, with non-voice revenues broadly stable. The improvement versus the previous quarter can be attributed to an improved ability to retain customers, resulting from a better handset line-up and service offering. (WWJ subscribers log in for more details).

Vodafone's Japan Exit Alternative

Mark Newman, from Informa, has an interesting take on Vodafone’s opportunity in Japan; Vodafone president Bill Morrow has already said the company is talking to as many as 30 potential MVNOs. Japanese and international entertainment companies, local retailers and established MVNOs, such as Virgin Mobile, are likely to be among the 30 names, but eMobile and BB Mobile would be much bigger customers. Judging from the impact of MVNOs in Europe, Vodafone’s strategy is likely to have profound implications for all Japanese operators.