Pakistan Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA)

DoCoMo – The Japanese Wireless Telecom

Leader
By Neela Radhika
Case Study Assignment

Published In Presented By
ICFAI Center for Management Research Adnan Muhammad Ali
164th JMC, 24.01.22 to 25.03.22
 History & Back Ground

 Ministry of Communication Japan split up into MTEL & MPosts

MTEL renamed as NTT for telecommunication operations,

monopoly for telecommunications in Japan.

 International Pressure – 1970s

Entry of Foreign Players into Japan’s Telecom Market

NTT Mobile Communication spun-off in 1992

 START OF NTT-DoCoMo


DoCoMo Established-1992


Product Portfolio
•The Initial portfolio included Mobile phones , Car Phone , Maritime Phones ,In-flight phones &

Pagers


Basic Management polices
• Expanding its businesses while contributing to the realizing of a rich and dynamic society

• Emphasizing and strengthening DoCoMo’s existing core business of voice communication

services 

• Assertively promoting mobile multimedia services among the public

Cont….
DoCoMo registered drastic decline in sales between 1992-94

stoped taking rental security deposits on handsets In Oct- 93 .

April 1994 - launches its own handsets & reduces initial

subscription fees in Dec 1996.

Launched Do Pa in March 1997.

I-Mode launched in 22 February 1999

 Success Story Of DoCoMo: I-Mode
I-mode achieved a phenomenal growth in subscribers.

 Generated 30% higher revenues per subscriber .

The subscriber base reached to more than 60% (18.1 M) of the 30 M mobile

internet customers in the world.

Plans are in the works between NTT DoCoMo and Sony Computer Entertainment

to allow I-mode users to play PlayStation games with each other over the phone.

DoCoMo announced its global strategy to establish it self as global player.

 I-mode innovation is not chiefly technological, it is also based on a sophisticated

 Business Model
• DoCoMo adapted AOL’s packet billing model.
• E-commerce traction on I-mode.
• never even mentioning the word ³Internet´ in marketing i-mode.
• It was a Win-Win-WIN situation for all .
• It chose not be just a gatekeeper between content companies and
customer.
• Multiple point contact with customers.
• External factors such as PC penetration was very low. I-mode came at
right time, in right place, with right content.
 DoCoMo - BEYOND I-MODE
• Launch of Freedom of mobile multimedia access (FOMA), a 3G service
• Riding on the success wave of I-MODE
• Hurdles in entering Global Arena
• BUT DoCoMo still going Global«
 Problems A Plenty
• Losses written-off .
• Postponement of Launch of FOMA
• Problems with trial package provided to customers.
• But the Inevitable happened-3 G Launched
 AFTER THE LAUNCH OF FOMA
• Customers complaints continued.
• FOMAs subscriber base amounted to only 89000 by the end of march
2002,much below the expected 150000.
• Due to increase in competition the net subscriber base was 31.7 %
lower in Dec-01 than in Dec-00.
• Docomo still dominated the market with 59% market share followed
by KDDI & Vodafone J-phone with 17.7%.
• Docomo offered various subsidies.
• Biggest loss 116.19 billion yen
 AFTER THE LAUNCH OF FOMA
• Cut of in the salaries of top executives by 10%-20% for a year.
• In April 2002,KDDI launched CDMA 2002lx, its 3G service.
• Problems to convince its partner wireless companies .
• DoCoMo stake fell by 33.8%
• Offered discounts and free roaming services.
• The performance of I-Mode launched in other countries was also
far from satisfactory
 Back In Business
• In Jun 2002 DoCoMo launched its first photo handset based on 2G
network.
• In Jan 2003 DoCoMo reduced its promotional expenditure on 3G
network.
• By Feb 2003 aggressively marketed FOMA handsets.
• In march 2003 company launched new handset P2102V.
• In April 2003 announced launch of new handset F661i with GPS
system.
• In April 2003 Company launched a µWrist watch with phone.
 Back In Business
• DoCoMo 3G initiative showed signs of revival.
• Company covered 90% of Japan population by the end of April 2003.
• DoCoMo bounced back on profit on account of its successful new launches with
consolidated net profit of $1.83 billion for the year end.
• Subscriber based amounted to over 41million.
• Company share prices increased to $2000 in April 03 from $1700 in March 03
• DoCoMo was not free of all problems, Japan government passed new Local
Taxes Amendment Law
• Competition in Japanese mobile market was increasing. Competitors like KDDI &
J-Phone was capturing market share.