KDDI raise forecast on back of strong 3G performance

January 30, 2004

Japan's number two mobile operator has raised its forecast for the year after it posted a 22% rise in quarterly earnings, thanks to the success of its 3G business. The service has attracted heavy users and the operator has raised its per-user revenue target for the year to 7,440 yen (184.7 yen = £1).

"We revised our full-year expectations on the strength of au's 3G business and increased profitability in the other segments," said KDDI President Tadashi Onodera at a news conference.

He said the au services continues to pull in heavy spending young customers ranging from 19 to 29 years old whom tends to spend 30% more than the average user.

The company's 11.8 million 3G customers constitutes 75% of its customer base. It expects to finish the fiscal year with 16.8 million customers.

NTT DoCoMo, who was the first operator in Japan to launch 3G, has recently announced it has signed up 2 million customers to its 3G FOMA service. DoCoMo had taken two years to sign up 1 million users but has signed its next 1 million customers in just four months.

Onodera said he believed au was well positioned to counter the threat from DoCoMo which plans to bring out new and better handsets in the next few months.