NTT DOCOMO, Inc. 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, i-mode, and mail services. The company has its headquarters in the Sanno Park Tower,
Nagatachō, Chiyoda, Tokyo. Docomo was spun off from Nippon Telegraph
and Telephone in August 1991 to take over the mobile cellular operations. It provides
2G PDC cellular services on the 800 MHz band, and 3G FOMA W-CDMA services on the 2 GHz
and 800 MHz) and 1700 MHz) bands, and 4G LTE services. Its businesses also included
PHS, paging, and satellite. Docomo ceased offering a PHS service on January 7, 2008.
Customers NTT Docomo is a subsidiary of Japan's incumbent
telephone operator NTT. The majority of NTT Docomo's shares are owned by NTT. While some
NTT shares are publicly traded, control of the company by Japanese interests is guaranteed
by the number of shares available to buyers. It provides wireless voice and data communications
to subscribers in Japan. NTT Docomo is the creator of W-CDMA technology as well as mobile
i-mode service. In late 1995, Docomo CEO hired Price Waterhouse consulting firm for strategy
development and at that time the Chief Visionary Technologist Keyur Patel worked on the first
design of data services on mobile for NTT Docomo CEO.
NTT Docomo has more than 53 million customers, 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, London, and New York
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.
The company was the last major global mobile carrier to offer Apple's iPhone, which it
finally did with the release of the iPhone 5s and 5c. This has been cited as one of the
reasons for the steady stream of its customers switching for competing networks.
In June 2011, the company announced that they were teaming up with McAfee to provide McAfee
VirusScan Mobile for its Android mobile users. In July 2012, NTT Docomo acquired Italy's
Buongiorno in a deal worth 209 million euros. Research and development
On October 2007, the prototype Wellness mobile phone of Japan's NTT Docomo Inc. and Mitsubishi
Electric Corp. was launched at CEATEC. It checks health with a motion sensor that detects
body movement and measures calories, and includes a breathalyzer.
On January 24, 2008, NTT Docomo announced that they made connections with Google. Enabling
all models after the FOMA904i models to view YouTube videos.
NTT Docomo is a founding member of the Symbian Foundation.
Earthquake warning system From 2008, Docomo 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. This service is provided 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. Civil protection system
From 2014, under Civil Protection Law of Japan, Docomo began offering a service called the
"Area Mail Disaster and Evacuation Information Service" which broadcasts J-Alert messages
produced by the Japan Fire and Disaster Management Agency to its subscribers with compatible
handsets. The message is broadcast when the military
threat is imminent, volcanic eruptions, or approaching tsunami.
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, which was also released in North America and Europe.
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.
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 jointly invested 200 million USD for a total
of 33% stake in U Mobile Malaysia. 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. Tata Teleservices has 80 million subscribers
as of October 2010. Though Tata Indicom is a CDMA based operator, they bagged GSM licenses
as well, and the NTT Docomo-Tata venture is focused on GSM operation. The Tata DOCOMO
service was commercially launched in India in June 2009. Tata DOCOMO had about 32.82
million users at the end of June 2010. They have also taken over Guamcell, among
others, and so are now the main wireless operator in Guam.
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, China.
See also
Japanese mobile phone culture NTT Docomo USA
Notes
References
External links NTT Docomo website
NTT Docomo Global website NTT Docomo Service Area
NTT DOCOMO USA DOCOMO Innovations
DOCOMO Communications Laboratories Europe GmbH
DOCOMO Beijing Research Labs Yahoo! - NTT Docomo, Inc. Company Profile
Tata DOCOMO Web site DOCOMO PACIFIC Web site
Symbian Found