Presentation Materials

I believe that of this 80 yen increase in packet ARPU, i-mode and non-i-mode services accounted for 10 yen and 70 yen, respectively. Looking at these numbers, it seems that you should more heavily allocate your managerial resources to businesses other than i-mode. What are the management's views on this?

In our analysis of the 80 yen increase in the packet ARPU, rather than dividing between i-mode and non-i-mode services, we consider that the combined contribution of i-mode and smartphones was 40 yen, and other factors accounted for the remaining 40 yen of which 30 yen was attributable to PC flat-rate data plans.
Currently, it is difficult to treat ARPU of i-mode and smartphones separately because the majority of users switching to smartphones are migrating from i-mode. It is true that if you separate out the contribution of i-mode from the 80 yen increase, it would be approximately 10 yen. However, pure i-mode ARPU (calculated by using only the total number of active i-mode users as the denominator) has grown by approximately 60 yen. As this number indicates, packet ARPU from i-mode service has actually increased, and a portion of these i-mode users have switched to smartphones.
We believe we have properly allocated our managerial resources to non-i-mode businesses, promoting smartphones and PC data cards based on a different subsidy scheme from that of i-mode. But we must also pay attention to the fact that at present there are still over 50 million users that subscribe to i-mode, so we need to continually brush up this service. Specifically, we plan to further improve the ease of use of our handsets and to launch an i-mode version of "docomo market".
For example, the iMenu page that appears when a user pushes the "i-button" to access i-mode is usually presented in a list format. However, we also provide an option to present the menu in icons (e.g., "Raku Raku iMenu" or "Otameshi Menu") for users who are not so familiar with the handset operations. Users can use these easier-to-use menu options by changing the iMenu setting of the handset, but unfortunately, they have to scroll a long way down the setting screen to reach these menu options. We are currently making modifications to allow users to jump immediately to the menu setting screen from the iMenu top page. By making such improvements in the ease of use of our services, we believe that subscribers who have never used i-mode before will begin to adopt this service, which will offer us an opportunity to further accelerate the growth of i-mode ARPU.

You are offering devices that can function as a wireless LAN access point, but this is not well known among the public. Don't you think you can further accelerate the growth of packet ARPU through marketing activities aimed at enhancing the recognition of such devices?

So far, we have not been able to sufficiently promote Wi-Fi router devices due to a shortage in supply vis-a-vis demand. But we plan to promote them more strongly in the future because we expect to have ample quantity in stock.

I believe the "Raku Raku iMenu" feature of "Raku-Raku PHONE 7" offers the potential to boost your ARPU. I understand that you sell approximately 2 million units of "Raku-Raku PHONE" per annum, and the latest model is also expected to enjoy a broad uptake. How do you evaluate "Raku-Raku PHONE 7" from your own perspective?

The latest "Raku-Raku PHONE 7" handset features outstanding ease-of-use and operability. Currently, there is a general perception that "Raku-Raku PHONE" is a phone for senior users, but we believe it can also be used by younger age groups. We have high expectations for expanding its user base.

What kind of billing structure do you plan to adopt for the LTE data cards scheduled for launch in December? Also, do you plan to offer smartphones as part of the LTE handset lineup to be released next year?

We plan to announce the billing structure for LTE around November this year. In reviewing the billing structure, we believe there are two points that need to be taken into account.
One is the utility value. Because LTE offers high transmission speeds in the order of 37.5 Mbps or 75Mbps, we are studying how to reflect these benefits in the rates.
The other is the possible increase of traffic, because we assume that the early adopters of LTE will likely be users with high IT literacy and these users may generate an extremely large amount of traffic. It is therefore necessary to design a rate structure that also takes fairness into consideration. We are looking into the option of introducing extra charges on top of the existing two-tier flat-rate plan for extremely heavy data users.
We will work to grow the user base of LTE after its launch, but the expansion of subscribers will have to be balanced with the amount of traffic and billing rates, and this is an issue that requires further study.
With respect to the availability of LTE-enabled smartphones, it may be difficult to release smartphones completely compatible with global specifications in Japan in the early days of service. However, there is a strong possibility that smartphones to that will be offered by our existing Japanese suppliers will have such LTE capabilities.