KDDI Corp aims at expanding market share in Japan

Japan is one of the most advanced mobile markets in the world. And KDDI Corp is currently the second largest player in this market, which is worth around $71 billion. The company aims at expanding their user base without offering incentives to prospective new customers like their competitors in the form of NTT DoCoMo Inc. and Vodafone K.K are doing.

Normally, these mobile carriers offer discounts on handsets sold through retailers to attract more consumers. They make up for these discounted prices by charging for extra services. KDDI President Tadashi Onodera said in an announcement about their plans over these services: “We’ve no plans to pay more subsidies per handset to add users. We do not see a need in giving bigger discounts on handsets if our customers are satisfied with our services.”

KDDI is now aiming for a 30 percent market share in Japan’s 8.5 trillion yen ($71 billion) cell-phone industry. They plan to offer new price plans and services including its full-song downloads. Their competitors on the other hand are more working towards increasing the incentives to gain customers. Times would get tougher next year, when a regulatory change would allow customers to switch carriers without changing their numbers next year.