Softbank has recently raised its profit forecast by 20%, on the back of iPhone demand.
The company had boosted ARPU to 4,310 yen in the 9 months ending in December, from 4,100 yen a year earlier, due to increased data traffic from iPhone users.
Softbank, Japan’s exclusive retailer of the device, had added 925,700 mobile subscribers in the December quarter, a large increase over rival Docomo which gained 315,400 customers over the same period. Similarly, Korea Telecom posted $94.3 million in profit for Q4 last year, on the back of brisk iPhone sales.
Softbank and Korea Telecom could be viewed as classic examples of how the iPhone has helped boost an operator’s bottom line. But is the device necessarily the answer to success?
China Unicom reported a decline in net profit for 2010 despite being the iPhone’s exclusive retailer in China. The fall in profit was attributed to high iPhone subsidies, a situation not unlike that of SingTel’s in 2008, where iPhone subsidies cost the operator $18 million in Singapore and $27 million in Australia, where it owns Optus.
SingTel had been the device’s exclusive retailer in Singapore until rivals Starhub and M1 came onboard a year later.
“The impact on operators’ bottom lines in offering the iPhone depends upon the market,” Nicole McCormick, a senior analyst at Ovum, told Telecom Asia. “In Japan, Softbank Mobile has exclusive rights to sell the iPhone.
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