Japanese operator NTT DoCoMo ended August with a total of 240,000 subscribers in the 5G segment after launching commercial services in March, the company’s President and CEO Kazuhiro Yoshizawa said during a conference call with investors.
At the end of the fiscal quarter ended June 30, the carrier had 150,000 5G customers, the executive said.
Yoshizawa said NTT DoCoMo expects 5G to start to reach mass market scale in the second half. The company is maintaining its target of 2.4 million 5G subscribers at the end of the financial year ending March 30, 2021.
“As for 5G coverage in the first quarter, 5G services started in 47 provinces and 92 cities. And here, we are aiming to 500 cities, including all government-designated cities to be covered toward the end of the fiscal year,” the executive said.
NTT DoCoMo previously said it expects to reach 10,000 5G sites by June 2021 and 20,000 by March 2022.
Its 5G plans for its current fiscal year include promoting open RAN technology and deploying mmWave, as well as expanding the range of 5G smartphones.
In April 2109, NTT DoCoMo obtained spectrum in the 3.6-3.7 GHz, 4.5-4.6 GHz and 27.4-27.8 GHz bands for the launch of 5G services in Japan.
Rival operators KDDI and SoftBank had launched 5G services earlier this year, while new entrant Rakuten Mobile, a unit of e-commerce giant Rakuten, plans to launch its 5G offering later this year. Rakuten Mobile previously said that the 5G service originally planned for June 2020 is expected to be delayed by approximately three months due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on part of the company’s global supply chain.
Financial results
NTT DoCoMo’s net profit for fiscal Q1 2020 increased 1.5% year-on-year to JPY195.5 billion ($1.84 billion), while operating revenue fell 5.3% to JPY1.09 trillion.
Mobile service turnover declined by 2.7%to JPY681 billion due to a significant drop in international roaming. Equipment sales fell 46.3%to JPY90 billion as lockdown measures due to the COVID-19 pandemic kept customers away from shops.
NTT DoCoMo’s mobile subscriptions grew 2% to 80.6 million, while the operator’s ARPU was nearly unchanged at JPY4,250.
The telco’s overall capex for fiscal Q1 amounted to JPY90.8 billion, down 7.2% year-on-year.
For full fiscal year 2020, the telco expects its operating revenue to decline by JPY81.3 billion year-on-year to JPY4.507 trillion. Operating profits are expected to increase by JPY25.4 billion and reach JPY880 billion, the operator said.
In its earnings release, NTT DoCoMo said that major changes in the Japanese telecommunications market environment are expected due to the penetration of MVNOs and the sub-brands of MNOs, entry of new business operators and the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic.
