(Kyodo News via NewsEdge) KDDI secured the largest net gain in the number of contracts among Japanese mobile phone service providers in 2006 for the first time in two years, an industry body said.
KDDI saw the number of new subscriptions to its 'au' mobile phone services exceed the number of cancellations by 2.53 million, against 1.85 million for NTT DoCoMo and 379,800 for Softbank Mobile, the Telecommunications Carriers Association said.
KDDI took advantage of the number portability system introduced last October as well as service fee discounts and music distribution services to attract customers and boost the number of its mobile phone contracts.
Under the number portability system that allows mobile phone users to switch service providers while retaining their phone numbers, KDDI won a net increase of 464,700 in the number of contracts between the system's introduction on October 24 and the end of the year. The others suffered net losses.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said a total of 1.06 million mobile phone users switched providers during the same period, including 380,000 in December alone.
An NTT DoCoMo executive said the number was smaller than earlier expected. A switching fee of around 5,000 yen may be discouraging users from making switches, he said.
At the end of 2006, KDDI occupied 28.7% of the cellphone service market, up 1.3 percentage points from a year earlier, the association said. NTT DoCoMo saw its share fall to 55%.
Softbank Mobile, which took over Vodafone Japan K.K. in the year, had a share of 16.3%, slightly lower than the year-earlier share for Vodafone.
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