NTT DoCoMo

Company name	NTT Docomo, Inc. 株式会社エヌ・ティ・ティ・ドコモ
Company logo
Company type	Public
Foundation	August 1991
Location	Sanno Park TowerNagatachō, Chiyoda, 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)
Assets	$65.438 billion (2009)
Num employees	21,527 (2005)
Parent	Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (60.24%)
Homepage	NTT Docomo global website

, which has the headquarters of NTT Docomo]] in Shibuya, Tokyo]]

, , }} 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. The company has its headquarters in the Sanno Park Tower, Nagatachō, Chiyoda, Tokyo.

Docomo was spun off from Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) in August 1991 to take over the mobile cellular operations. It provides 2G (mova) PDC cellular services on the 800 MHz band, and 3G FOMA W-CDMA services on the 2 GHz (UMTS2100) and 800 MHz(UMTS800(Band VI)) and 1700 MHz(UMTS1700(Band IX)) bands. Its businesses also included PHS (Paldio), 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 (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 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.

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 founder 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.

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. 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 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 (which sells under the brand Tata Indicom and Virgin Mobile India) has 80 million subscribers as of October 2010. Though Tata Indicom is a CDMA based operator, they bagged GSM licences as well, and the NTT docomo-Tata venture is focused on GSM operation (called Tata Docomo). 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

Notes

References

FY2007 Annual Report. NTT Docomo, Inc., June 12, 2008.

Ito, Takayuki (2006). "Japanese Cellular Phones FAQ". euc.JP. August 6, 2006.

Docomo corporate information

External links

NTT Docomo website

NTT Docomo Global website

NTT Docomo Service Area

NTT DOCOMO USA

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

Category:Companies based in Tokyo Category:Members of the Conexus Mobile Alliance Category:Telecommunications companies of Japan Category:Mobile phone companies of Japan Category:Companies established in 1991 Category:Nippon Telegraph and Telephone