14 DAY TRIAL // A recent research initiated by ROA Group, a Tokyo-based consulting company, shows that in Japan, by the end of 2010, the number of mobile phone users will reach 107.3 million. Also, the CARG (compound annual growth rate) is said to be of 3.93% between 2003 and 2010.
Another research made by ROA group was focused on the Japanese mobile market in 2006, mainly studying last year's trends and carrier strategies. Mr. Yukiko Noda, senior analyst at ROA Group, stated: "The introduction of Mobile Number Portability (MNP) was the most important issue in the Japanese mobile market in the second half of 2006, however it had a limited influence on the overall mobile market because mobile operators maintained a relatively low subscriber churn rate by offering attractive handsets, services and tariff plans."
Besides the introduction of Mobile Number Portability, other important changes happened in the Japanese mobile market. A notable change was represented by the creation of SoftBank Mobile, after SoftBank (a leading Japanese telecommunications and media corporation) and Vodafone Japan merged last year. Another change was brought by the appearance of EMOBILE Ltd which launched its services in March 2007. Moreover, the HSPDA 3.5G networks are expanding and it is anticipated that data services will gain more and more popularity. All these aspects can only have one effect on the mobile market in Japan: it makes it evolve.
According to statistics, in the first quarter of this year, in Japan, there were 96.7 million mobile users. This means more than 75 percent of the country's total population.
ROA Group is a Japanese research and consulting company that focuses its activity on Asia's mobile and convergence markets. The group's researches and forecasts are meant to help companies from all over the world make future estimations and improve competitiveness.