Have you ever used cellular phones in Japan? If you come to Japan for business, your company may pay for you. You really don’t mind in this situation, but it’s quite important once you make a contract on your own. 3 companies exist in the market. NTT Docomo, au, and Softbank are those. I should explain each background to understand them.
1. NTT Docomo
NTT is the biggest telecom company in Japan, and it was state-controlled long time ago. NTT Docomo is a subsidiary of NTT. However its revenue exceeded NTT previously. I guess they had more than 70% of the market share 5 years ago. Now the situation is changing because of the Number Portability System. The share decreased into 54.45%. They dominated the market too much.
2. au
au is a subsidiary of KDDI, which is the second largest telecom company in Japan. My impression of au is that they’ve faced consumers. They knew NTT Docomo had big shares, and it’s hard to defeat them. What they could do was SERVICES based on price, variety of cellular phone, and customer support. Of course NTT Docomo had all of them, but something was different from my customer point of view.
3. Softbank
Softbank purchased Vodafone Japan in 2006, thus the company is well-known as Vodafone globally. They have 16.75% share in Japan. It was less than 10% before the Number Portability System started. Originally Softbank is not a telecom, but their business is multidimensional and related to software, network, and broadcast. Remarkably the president, Masayoshi Son, has a strong leadership. I believe that Softbank’s share will increase near future. I’m a Softbank user.
Generally au provides the cheapest price, and NTT Docomo provides the widest service area. Softbank is in the middle, but they have a special plan between Softbank users. If people around you use Softbank, use Softbank. Of course these 3 companies deal with pre-paid cellular phone, which is suitable for travelers.
Now what’s your choice?
