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Softbank Mobile Corp won top spot for annual net mobile subscriber growth for the first time in fiscal 2007, according to data released by mobile phone carriers Tuesday.
Softbank Mobile beat its rivals with a net increase of 2,676,500 subscribers in the year to last month thanks to its White Plan featuring lower fees, while KDDI Corp, the au mobile phone operator, dropped to second place with a net gain of 2,150,800.
Softbank Mobile increased its annual net gain steeply from about 700,000 in the previous year, while KDDI's net growth was down from the previous year's 2.75 million.
NTT DoCoMo Inc ranked third with a net rise of 766,600, less than half of the previous year's 1.48 million. EMobile Ltd, which started mobile data communications services in March last year, came fourth with 411,500.
As a result, NTT DoCoMo saw its market share in terms of total subscriptions fall to 52% from 54.4%. KDDI's share rose to 29.5% from 29.1%, while Softbank Mobile's share increased to 18.1% from 16.4%.
In March alone, Softbank Mobile registered net subscriber growth of 543,900, staying No. 1 for the 11th straight month, followed by KDDI with 500,500.
NTT DoCoMo started to count one subscriber with two phone numbers as two subscribers, but it came third with a net gain of 173,700. EMobile had a net increase of 130,200.
© JCN
5 Comments
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Ninjazilla
Looks like Softbanks revolutionary idea,lower fees,is working.
notimpressed
Problem with whit eplan is that it doesnt really offer all that much. And any othe rplan makes a big jump in price, or did when I was last hooking up a new phone. Also I dont like the way they tie thier deals into only being between softbank phones etc, why penalise you for wanting to call someone on a different company?
Ultradude
Seems rather logical - not a penalty at all but a reward to encourage you to bring others over to Softbank. This is why all three networks announce themselves in one way or another to the caller. Many companies have ways of encouraging current customers to intro others via discounts or other means.
notimpressed
Well it was a reason fo rme not get softbank at th etime, as my current plan gives me 444 freee offpeak minutes a month to all phones. Its not like Im going to complain to my multiple bosses to get a softbank phone so I can save money. Vodafone and telecom did the same thing back home and it was annoying. But same old thing from phone companies, never giving anything with true value, just this percieved value that lured you in. Basically Im saving money on Au, but only because I got in on a special limited deal. Im thinking of going to softbank just for th ebetter english language support and cool new phone models they have brought out recently.
Twenty4Play
I predict a SHARP decline in SoftBank subscribers in about 24 months when everyones contracts expire. Since it costs an average of 650,000yen to cancel a 24 month contract, they've got most people locked in for that amount of time.
It didn't take me long to realize I had a much better deal with DoCoMo, and wasn't getting charged 22yen (11.5yen w/double-white) a minute every time I picked up the phone. In addition, since I had a smart phone, I was automatically paying the PC data rate that topped out at nearly 10,000yen (as opposed to the normal 5,000yen).
Good deal if only talk to people that have SoftBank. But if you're like most people, you're friends are on all three services.