TOKYO—The number of mobile Internet users in Japan exceeded 50 million riding on the country’s i-mode boom. The Telecommunications Carriers Association, an industry association, on 7 March announced the number of users of mobile Internet services, including NTT DoCoMo’s i-mode customers, as of the end of February increased by 1.8 percent from the previous month, reaching 50.33 million.
The total number of mobile-phone users as of the end of February increased 0.7 percent from the previous month to 68 million.
The number of subscribers of NTT DoCoMo, the leading mobile carrier, increased by 254,000 in February, which pushed up the total subscriber number to 40.12 million.
However, NTT DoCoMo failed to significantly increase FOMA user numbers. FOMA users increased by 12,700 in February, which pushed up the total FOMA user number to 55,700. NTT DoCoMo is targeting to have 150,000 FOMA users by the end of March, however, it seems DoCoMo has no way to make the quite conservative target.
