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| Type | Public TYO: 9437 NYSE: DCM LSE: NDCM |
|---|---|
| Founded | August 1991 |
| Headquarters | Tokyo, Japan |
| Key people | Ryuji Yamada President & CEO |
| Industry | Wireless Services |
| Products | PDC, i-mode, W-CDMA, FOMA, HSDPA, PHS |
| Revenue | ▼¥4,711.8 billion (2007) / $44.861 billion (2009) |
| Net income | ▲¥491.2 billion (2007) / $4.759 billion (2009) |
| Total assets | $65.438 billion (2009) |
| Employees | 21,527 (2005) |
| Parent | Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (60.24%) |
| Website | NTTdocomo.com |
NTT DoCoMo, Inc. (株式会社エヌ・ティ・ティ・ドコモ Kabushiki-gaisha Enutiti Dokomo, TYO: 9437, NYSE: DCM, LSE: NDCM) is the predominant mobile phone operator in Japan. The name is officially an abbreviation of the phrase, "do communications over the mobile network", and is also from a compound word dokomo, meaning "everywhere" in Japanese. docomo provides phone, video phone (FOMA and Some PHS), i-mode (internet), and mail (i-mode mail, Short Mail, and SMS) services.
Docomo was spun off from Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) in August 1991 to take over the mobile cellular operations. docomo provides 2G (mova) PDC cellular services in 800 MHz and 1.5 GHz bands (total 34 MHz bandwidth), and 3G FOMA W-CDMA services in the 2 GHz (UMTS2100) and 800 MHz(UMTS800(Band VI)) and 1800 MHz(UMTS1800(Band IX)) bands. Its businesses also included PHS (Paldio), paging, and satellite. docomo ended PHS service on January 7, 2008.
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Customers
NTT docomo is a subsidiary of Japan's incumbent telephone operator NTT. The majority of NTT docomo's shares are owned by NTT (which is 33.71% government-owned). While some NTT shares are publicly traded, control of the company by Japanese interests (Government and civilian) is guaranteed by the number of shares available to buyers. It provides wireless voice and data communications to many subscribers in Japan. NTT docomo is the creator of W-CDMA technology as well as mobile i-mode service.
NTT docomo has more than 53 million customers (as of March 2008), which is more than half of Japan's cellular market. The company provides a wide variety of mobile multimedia services. These include i-mode which provides e-mail and internet access to over 50 million subscribers, and FOMA, launched in 2001 as the world's first 3G mobile service based on W-CDMA.
In addition to wholly owned subsidiaries in Europe and North America, the company is expanding its global reach through strategic alliances with mobile and multimedia service providers in Asia-Pacific and Europe. NTT docomo is listed on the Tokyo (9437), London (NDCM), and New York (DCM) stock exchanges.
On April 19, 2008, it was announced that Ryuji Yamada, the current co-president of NTT docomo, will be promoted as the president of NTT DoCoMo in June 2008. Masao Nakamura will stay in NTT docomo as a director and also the senior adviser. Since October 2006, when the introduction to the service which allows the user to carry their original phone number with a new provider was made, NTT docomo has lost many users to KDDI and SoftBank. This promotion was made in order to get more users for NTT docomo. [1]
R&D
While most mobile operators globally do not perform any significant R&D and rely on equipment suppliers for the development and supply of new communication equipment, NTT docomo continues the NTT tradition of very extensive R&D efforts. It was mainly DoCoMo's strong R&D investments which allowed docomo to introduce 3G communications and i-mode data services long before such services were introduced anywhere else in the world.
On October 2007, the prototype Wellness mobile phone of Japan's NTT docomo Inc. and Mitsubishi Electric Corp. was launched at the CEATEC. It checks health with a motion sensor that detects body movement and measures calories, and includes a breathalyzer.[2]
On January 24, 2008, NTT docomo announced that they made connections with Google. By doing this, all models after the FOMA904i models are able to view YouTube videos.[3][4]
NTT DoCoMo is a founder member of the Symbian Foundation.
Earthquake Warnings
Beginning in 2008 DaCoMo began offering a service called the "Area Mail Disaster Information Service" which broadcasts earthquake early warning messages produced by the Japan Meteorological Agency to its subscribers with compatible handsets. [5] This service is provide free of charge and messages are limited to those areas affected by each particular alert. These alerts have a unique ring tone so they can be easily distinguished from incoming calls or messages.
Mascot
The company's mascot is Docomodake, a mushroom, which is quite a celebrity in Japan. He even is the hero of a Nintendo DS puzzle and platforming video game, Boing! Docomodake DS, that was also released in North America and Europe.[6] He also has a wide variety of merchandising such as cell phone straps, keychains, and plush dolls. As one type of advertising method, there are many types of Docomodakes such as mother and father, which symbolizes the plans that NTT docomo offers. The image shown on the right are mainly the normal Docomodakes, with a few musume (daughter) Docomodakes and jiji (grandpa) Docomodakes.
Investments outside Japan
NTT docomo has a wide range of foreign investments. However, NTT docomo was not successful in investing in foreign carriers. Docomo had invested very large multi-billion dollar amounts in KPN, KT Freetel, AT&T Wireless, and had to write-off or sell all these investments in foreign carriers. As a result, docomo booked a total of about US$ 10 billion in losses, while during the same time docomo's Japan operations were profitable.
In December 2007, NTT docomo and KT Freetel have jointly invested 200 million USD for a total of 33% stake in U Mobile Malaysia. The announcement is arguably one of the most important mobile communications deal in Malaysia to date as it has the tremendous potential to shift the business model of the local telecommunication industry from a coverage dominated landscape to a products and content driven one through the influx of knowledge and expertise from both NTT docomo and KT Freetel.
In November 2008 NTT docomo bought a 26% stake in Tata Teleservices for 2.7 billion USD, the number 6 in Indian telecom industry and owned by the Tata group. India is the world's fastest-growing cellular market, adding as many as 9 million new customers a month. DoCoMo believes that there's plenty more room to grow in India. Tata Teleservices (which sells under the brand Tata Indicom and Virgin Mobile India) has 35 million of the 392 million wirelesss subscribers in India as of March '09. Though Tata Indicom is CDMA based operator, they bagged GSM licences also, and NTT docomo-Tata venture will be focused to the GSM operation (called Tata DoCoMo). The Tata DoCoMo service was commercially launched in India in June 2009.
They have also taken over Guamcell, among others, and so now are the main wireless operator in Guam.[citation needed]
Now DoCoMo is working on implementing its FeliCa-based payment system, called iD, overseas. It has already launched the system in Guam, as well as Shanghai and Beijing in China.
Notes
- ^ "ドコモ社長に山田副社長が昇格へ" (in Japanese). 2008-04-19. http://www.asahi.com/business/update/0418/TKY200804180367.html. Retrieved 2008-04-18.
- ^ Afp.google.com, New Prototype Phone Gives Fitness Check
- ^ "ドコモとGoogleが提携──各種サービスのiモード対応などを推進" (in Japanese). ITMedia+D モバイル. http://plusd.itmedia.co.jp/mobile/articles/0801/24/news066.html. Retrieved 2008-01-26.
- ^ "YouTube、ドコモの904i／905iシリーズに対応" (in Japanese). ITMedia+D モバイル. http://plusd.itmedia.co.jp/mobile/articles/0801/24/news104.html. Retrieved 2008-01-26.
- ^ http://www.nttdocomo.co.jp/english/service/anshin/areamail/|title=Area Mail Disaster Information Service
- ^ "Boing! Docomodake page on GameFAQs" (in English). GameFAQs. http://www.gamefaqs.com/portable/ds/data/943161.html. Retrieved 2009-06-12.
References
- FY2007 Annual Report. NTT Docomo, Inc., June 12, 2008.
- Ito, Takayuki (2006). "Japanese Cellular Phones FAQ". euc.JP. August 6, 2006.
- About Docomo, NTTDoCoMo.co.jp.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: NTT DoCoMo |
- NTT docomo website
- NTT docomo Global website
- NTT docomo Service Area
- Docomo USA Research Labs
- Docomo Communications Laboratories Europe GmbH
- Docomo Beijing Research Labs
- Yahoo! - NTT Docomo, Inc. Company Profile
- Tata Docomo Web site (India)
- Symbian Foundation
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