まゆの部屋

DoCoMo finds way out of money-losing model
The Yomiuri Shimbun

NTT DoCoMo Inc. plans to curb losses on its "wan-segu" (one-segment) feature by releasing a new mobile handset model next spring that will not allow users to access the feature if they cancel their service contract.

One-segment broadcasting, a type of digital terrestrial TV broadcasting for mobile handsets, can currently be viewed for free on one DoCoMo model, even after the service contract has been canceled.

DoCoMo, following the lead of KDDI, released its one-seg mobile handset P901iTV in March. The company had sold about 120,000 of the handsets as of the end of July. According to an industry representative, the cost price of the handsets is more than 60,000 yen, and as DoCoMo pays the sales promotion costs to their distributors, they charge a retail price of about 20,000 yen. DoCoMo makes a loss on the sale of the handset, but aimed to recoup that loss through call charges and basic monthly fees.

However, many users have canceled their service contracts immediately after taking them out and are using their handsets as portable TVs. DoCoMo, in trying to find a solution to this problem, realized it would take considerable time and money to improve the software on the existing model and therefore decided to introduce a new model.

One-seg mobile handsets are also sold by Softbank Corp., which runs the Vodafone mobile service, and KDDI, which runs the au service, and there are now four different models on the market. However, both companies installed mechanisms in the phones that automatically prevent users from viewing one-seg once the service contract has been canceled.

A spokesman at DoCoMo's Product Department said, "As this model is relatively expensive, we didn't think so many users would quickly cancel their service contracts and just use the TV function of their handset."

(Aug. 22, 2006)