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Japan - Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband--ChinaCCM.com adds new reportReport Summary Japan's telecommunications sector is one of the most active markets in the world. Coming into 2009, the country was witnessing the continued growth of VoIP and triple play services, and strong competition among the mobile operators in the 3G segment of the market. Especially noteworthy has been the uptake of FttH services (with a corresponding move away from DSL) and the big strides taken in developing digital and mobile broadcasting. The telecommunications regulatory authorities in Japan have been very active in shaping the industry in this country. As a result of their efforts, Japan has assumed a dynamic leadership role in many aspects of global and regional telecommunications. The control that the incumbent operator, NTT Corp, has continued to exert over virtually all local customers remains a particular challenge for the regulator. In addition, a growing concern has been the development (and lack) of cyber law in a society that is increasingly spending its time online. Japan takes the lead in broadband leadership which is defined by both penetration and quality. Most of today's web applications require a relatively low quality threshold; however, the next wave of web applications demands a step-up improvement in broadband quality. Japan is one of the few countries well-prepared for this next wave of web applications. While quality correlates with a nation's development as a knowledge-based economy, high penetration is associated with increased labour productivity. These both have a different and complementary socioeconomic impact. Entering 2009, Japan had over 30 million broadband lines in place, making it the third largest broadband country in the world after the US and China. Much of the success of broadband in Japan is owed to the stunning growth surge that occurred back in 2003 on the back of DSL broadband technology. Other broadband services such as FttH have since attracted even greater interest in the Japanese market. Japan has also been an early adopter of triple play models which provide TV, broadband Internet and voice telephony as packaged services from a single provider. E-services are continuing to gain ground as a key driver of convergence in the country's telecom market. Japan is one of the world's leading mobile telephone markets, not only in terms of size but also in terms of innovation and its ability to be early with the introduction of advanced technologies. The market is characterised by intense competition and as user needs become varied, it becomes more difficult for any one carrier to hold on to a majority of market share. Japan is one of the world's top 3G markets, with concrete plans moving towards 4G within the next five years. Key highlights The number of broadband lines in Japan had posted dramatic growth to over 30 million by end-2008. In terms of quality and affordability, Japan's telecommunications infrastructure is significantly ahead of that in the US and Europe. Going into 2009, DSL subscribers were still declining from the peak in 2006, as customers continued to shift to FttH. During the first half of 2008, FttH subscribers outnumbered DSL subscribers for the first time and had reached over 13 million by end-2008. The DSL and FttH platforms support the bulk of the country's broadband market, with cable modem and wireless making up the balance. During 2008, the number of fixed subscribers declined even further to 43 million (less than 35% penetration), and that of mobile subscribers surpassed 105 million (more than 80% penetration). The trend highlights the severe pressure on NTT, faced with declining fixed-line subscribers and high levels of competition eating away at its market dominance. New mobile operator, eMobile, continued its network expansion and in early 2009 had attracted over 1.2 million subscribers. The strong uptake of 3G continues, with over 90 million subscribers going into 2009, representing nearly 90% of all mobile subscribers. DoCoMo is one of the strongest drivers of the LTE (News - Alert) standard and is expected to launch around 2009/10 before the standard is complete with its Super 3G version. The local market's other significant growth area coming into 2009 was in IP-based telephony, taking around 30% of all telephony subscriptions. Softbank is still a major player, with around 25% of the total VoIP subscriber base by September 2008, although NTT maintained its 50% market share after substantial gains in 2007. Popular VAS continued to be i-mode for Internet access via mobile phones, music downloads facilitated by linkage between the content providers and the operators, and Osaifu-Keitai, a mobile wallet that allows subscribers to pay for train tickets and the like with their mobile phones. Japan had over 90 million wireless Internet subscribers by early 2009. For those needing high level strategic analysis and objective analysis on Japan, this report is essential reading and gives further information on: The government's adoption of its New IT Reform Strategy to promote the installation of broadband in order to eliminate zero-broadband areas by 2010 together with the Next-Generation Broadband Strategy 2010 to advance the need for nationwide broadband installations. The MIC plans to completely replace the domestic fixed-line telephone network with an IP system by 2010. The construction of WiMAX (News - Alert) networks by new licensees KDDI (operating in a consortium known as UQ Communications) and PHS operator Willcom. The winners are required to start services by December 2010, with networks covering at least half of the population within five years. The termination of DoCoMo's PHS service after having stopped accepting new subscribers during April 2005. This left Willcom as the only operator still offering a PHS service. Softbank winning the coveted right to sell the iPhone in Japan. While much hype followed the launch, only time will reveal whether this gadget can meet the demands of the sophisticated Japanese market. The successful launch of a Japanese experimental satellite aimed at providing high-speed data communications of up to 1.2Gb/s across Asia. This is 150 times faster than high-speed ADSL and 12 times the speed of a FttP connection, making it the fastest in the world. The launch of services in Japanese by major social networking service (SNS) provider Facebook. Facebook's launch is likely to stoke competition among SNS providers including Mixi, one of the largest providers in Japan with a membership of 14 million people. Report Outline 1. Key Statistics 2. Telecommunications Market 2.1 Overview of Japan's telecom market 2.2 Fixed-line and mobile phones in Japan 2.3 Broadband and wireless Internet in Japan 2.3.1 Japan Internet Providers' Association (JAIPA) 2.4 Television broadcasting in Japan 3. Regulatory Environment 3.1 Major stages of reform 3.2 The MPHPT / MIC 3.3 Interconnection arrangements 3.3.1 Fixed-mobile interconnection 3.4 Universal Service Fund Obligation 3.5 e-Japan 3.5.1 E-government 3.6 U-Japan 3.7 Recent regulatory developments 3.7.1 Year 2008 3.7.2 Year 2000 - 2007 3.8 History of regulatory developments 3.8.1 Telecommunications Business Law of 1985 3.8.2 Years 1992 - 1999 4. Fixed Network Market 4.1 Market overview 4.2 MYLINE Carrier Selection Service (CSS) 4.2.1 MYLINE calling categories 4.3 Domestic services 4.3.1 Local calls 4.3.2 National long-distance calls 4.3.3 International calls 5. Major Operators 5.1 Operating environment 5.2 Overview of major operators 5.2.1 NTT Corporation 5.2.2 NTT Communications 5.2.3 NTT Data Corporation 5.2.4 NTT DoCoMo 5.2.5 KDDI Corporation 5.2.6 Softbank Corporation 5.2.7 Internet Initiative Japan (IIJ) 5.2.8 Jupiter Telecommunications (J:COM) 5.2.9 ACCA Networks (News - Alert) Inc 5.2.10 eAccess 5.2.11 eMobile 5.2.12 Willcom (DDI Pocket) 5.2.13 SKY PerfecTV! Communications Inc 6. Telecommunications Infrastructure 6.1 Overview of infrastructure developments in Japan 6.1.1 The push to develop Next Generation Network (NGN) standards 6.1.2 Opening up the last mile 6.2 Regulatory issues 6.2.1 Policy on national information superhighway 6.2.2 IT Basic Strategy 6.2.3 Government plan for ubiquitous networks 6.3 Broadband networks 6.4 International submarine cable infrastructure 6.5 Data centres 6.6 Satellite infrastructure 6.6.1 Major satellite operators 7. Broadband Market 7.1 Overview 7.2 Next Generation Broadband Strategy FY2010 7.3 Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) 7.4 Cable modems 7.5 Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) 7.6 Fibre-to-the-Home (FttH) 7.7 P2P Network Experiment Council 7.8 Broadband charges 7.9 Wireless broadband 7.9.1 Wireless LAN (WLAN) 7.9.2 World Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) 7.9.3 Internet via satellite 8. Convergence (News - Alert) 8.1 Overview of media convergence 8.1.1 Internet Protocol TV (IPTV) 8.1.2 Video-on-Demand (VoD) 8.2 Digital TV 8.2.1 Cable TV (CATV) 8.2.2 Satellite TV 8.2.3 Digital Terrestrial TV (DTTV) 8.3 E-services 8.3.1 E-commerce 8.3.2 E-cash 8.3.3 E-banking 8.3.4 Social networking 9. Mobile Communications 9.1 Overview of Japan's mobile market 9.1.1 Background 9.1.2 Statistical overview 9.1.3 Market developments 9.1.4 New market entrants 9.1.5 Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNO) 9.2 Mobile technologies 9.2.1 PDC 9.2.2 CDMA 9.2.3 PHS 9.2.4 Third Generation (3G) mobile 9.2.5 Fourth Generation (4G) mobile 9.2.6 Mobile handset market 9.3 Major mobile operators 9.4 Mobile services 9.4.1 Prepaid cards 9.4.2 Mobile Internet 9.4.3 Push-to-Talk (PTT) 9.5 Mobile content 9.5.1 Global Positioning System (GPS) 9.5.2 M-commerce / m-cash 9.5.3 Mobile banking 9.5.4 Mobile advertising 9.5.5 Mobile TV and radio 9.5.6 Mobile ringtone and music downloads 9.6 Mobile applications 9.6.1 Earthquake alerts 9.6.2 Personal trainer 9.6.3 QR code readers 10. Glossary of Abbreviations Tables Table 1 Country statistics Japan 2008 Table 2 Telecom revenue and investment statistics 2006 Table 3 Telephone network statistics September 2008 Table 4 Internet user statistics September 2008 Table 5 Broadband statistics June 2008 Table 6 Mobile statistics September 2008 Table 7 National telecommunications authorities Table 8 Number of competitive telcos: 1985; 1989; 1993; 1997; 2001; 2008 Table 9 Subscribers and penetration: fixed-line versus mobile 1993 - 2008 Table 10 Internet subscribers cable modem, DSL and FttH 2002 - 2008 Table 11 Number of telecomm carriers in Japan November 2008 Table 12 MYLINE subscribers 2002 - 2008 Table 13 MYLINE operator market share 2008 Table 14 Internet, broadband, IP telephony and telecoms statistics 2004 - 2008 Table 15 NTT financial data 2000 - 2008 Table 16 NTT proportion of operating revenue by segment 2004 - 2008 Table 17 NTT subscribers by service September 2008 Table 18 NTT broadband subscribers and market share by segment 2004 - 2008 Table 19 NTT Com operating revenue 2000 - 2008 Table 20 NTT Data revenue and annual change 1995 - 2008 Table 21 NTT DoCoMo operating revenue and annual change 1996 - 2008 Table 22 NTT DoCoMo subscriber by network November 2008 Table 23 NTT DoCoMo ARPU, MOU and churn 2004 - 2008 Table 24 NTT DoCoMo subscribers by technology and ARPU 2002 - 2009 Table 25 NTT DoCoMo plans: technology and speed 2006 - 2011 Table 26 NTT DoCoMo investment in international operators September 2008 Table 27 KDDI financial data 2001 - 2009 Table 28 KDDI proportion of revenue by segment 2001 - 2008 Table 29 au subscribers by technology and market share 1997 - 2009 Table 30 KDDI au ARPU, MOU and churn 2001 - 2009 Table 31 TU-KA subscribers and market share 1997 - 2008 Table 32 ADSL and FttH subscribers 2005 - 2009 Table 33 Fixed access lines 2008 - 2009 Table 34 Softbank financial data 1995 - 2008 Table 35 Softbank proportion of revenue by segment 2006 - 2008 Table 36 Softbank operational data: thousands of subscribers 2006 - 2008 Table 37 Softbank ARPU and churn 2004 - 2008 Table 38 IIJ revenue and net income 2005 - 2007 Table 39 J:COM financial data 2003 - 2008 Table 40 J:COM revenue by service 2003 - 2008 Table 41 J-COM subscribers by service and monthly ARPU 2000 - 2008 Table 42 J-COM households by service bundling 2003 - 2008 Table 43 ACCA Networks revenue and net income 2006 - 2008 Table 44 ACCA Networks subscribers and ARPU by service 2006 - 2008 Table 45 eAccess stakeholders March 2008 Table 46 eAccess financial data 2004 - 2009 Table 47 SKY PerfecTV! subscribers 1998 - 2008 Table 48 Broadband subscribers by access type 2000 - 2008 Table 49 Broadband subscriber annual change & market share by access type 2000 - 2008 Table 50 Broadband subscribers and households - June 2008 Table 51 Broadband subscribers and annual change by access type September 2008 Table 52 Broadband subscribers and market share by access type June 2008 Table 53 Types of Internet connection using a home PC (households) March 2008 Table 54 Types of Internet terminal access (individuals) March 2008 Table 55 Internet subscribers and penetration rate 2003 - 2008 Table 56 Broadband household subscribers and service availability 2006 - 2007; 2011 Table 57 VoIP subscribers and annual change 2004 - 2008 Table 58 VoIP subscribers and market share by operator June 2008 Table 59 DSL subscribers and market share by provider June 2008 Table 60 FttH subscribers and market share by provider June 2008 Table 61 Tariffs for broadband services 2008 Table 62 Softbank and the world's leading IPTV (News - Alert) operators' subscribers 2006 Table 63 Cable TV operators and subscribers 1999 - 2008 Table 64 Satellite broadcasters and BS and CS subscribers 1999 - 2008 Table 65 Mobile subscribers and annual change 1995 - 2008 Table 66 Mobile subscribers by system 2008 Table 67 cdmaOne, CDMA2000 1x and WCDMA subscribers 1999 - 2008 Table 68 PHS subscribers by carrier 2004 - 2008 Table 69 PHS subscribers 1995 - 2008 Table 70 3G mobile subscribers by operator 2008 Table 71 Mobile subscribers by operator and technology 2008 Table 72 Mobile subscribers, ARPU and churn by operator 2004-2008 Table 73 Prepaid mobile subscribers 2008 Table 74 Mobile wireless Internet subscribers by providers 2008 Table 75 Mobile wireless Internet subscribers 2000 - 2008 Table 76 ARPU for mobile business 2001 - 2006 Exhibits Exhibit 1 Major members of MYLINE Carriers Association January 2009 Exhibit 2 Significant telecoms operators in Japan Exhibit 3 NTT Group structure March 2008 Exhibit 4 Softbank operations Exhibit 5 Major global/regional submarine cables with landing point in Japan - 2008 Exhibit 6 Representative charges per service in Tokyo 2008 Exhibit 7 Types of telecom convergence For more information please visit: http://www.chinaccm.com/4S/4S16/4S1607/news/20090220/153844.asp As a community-building service, TMCnet allows user submitted content which is not always proofed by TMCnet editors. 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