NTT DoCoMo Inc.
(
DCM
), the largest telecom operator in Japan, announced that its high
speed LTE mobile service has reached 10 million subscribers in
just over two years of its launch. According to the telecom
giant, the total number of LTE subscribers has doubled in the
last six months based on a maturing telecom market and increase
in supported device.
NTT DoCoMo, which was formed after spinning off from
Nippon Telegraph and
Telephone
(
NTT
), started its LTE service on Dec 24, 2010. Within the first year
of its launch, DoCoMo signed up 1 million customers and by August
2012 the company had about 5 million LTE subscribers.
DoCoMo's LTE services, which operates under the brand Xi has
32 LTE-enabled smartphones and 6 tablets in its lineup and is
determined to improve its LTE-based portfolio along with
extraordinary high speed. DoCoMo, the introducer of 3G service to
the world is currently negotiating with Apple to bring the iPhone
to its network, which will enlighten its LTE fleet.
The company is currently expanding its LTE coverage and has
vowed to boost its download speed to 112.5 Mbps in 22 cities by
Mar and 50 plus cities by Jun 2013. Additionally, the company is
also planning to increase its LTE base stations' count offering
upto 75 Mbps speed to 4,000 by Mar and 10,000 by Jun 2013.
Meanwhile, Nokia Siemens Network (NSN), the telecom equipment
manufacturing arm of
Nokia
Corporation
(
NOK
) has rolled out an LTE service for DoCoMo Pacific in the US
territory of Guam. DoCoMo Pacific, a subsidiary of NTT DoCoMo
launched its LTE service in Guam in the 700 MHz band on Oct 4,
2012 and the latest LTE network infrastructure from NSN will
allow its subscribers to download HD quality video in real quick
time.
Despite reaching this new milestone, NTT DoCoMo is currently
loosing ground to local rivals like KDDI and Softbank. The main
reason for the poor show is the absence of
Apple
Inc.
's (
AAPL
) iPhone device in its stable. We believe the company will
continue with its recent poor run of subscriber loss if it fails
to add Apple as its partner.
Currently, NTT DoCoMo carries a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong
Sell).
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