One year from the "Ahamo Shock", each company will make an online -only plan as soon as possible.

"AHAMO" announced by NTT DOCOMO in December 2020 has attracted attention at the height of cospa, which can use 20GB of traffic at a monthly fee of less than 3,000 yen.

NTT DOCOMO has announced the Ahamo in December 2020 and has been giving a big impact on the mobile phone industry. However, two other companies other than NTT DOCOMO have shown a strategy change, such as renewing and changing the position of the online exclusive plan. Why? [Image] Cumulative contracts published by SoftBank at the financial results briefing. Although the number of contracts for LINEMO / LINE Mobile has grown, the POVO, which is clearly smaller than the growth of Y -Mobile, is clearly announced on December 3, 2020, which has a declining presence, and has shocked a major shock in the mobile phone industry. Was given NTT DOCOMO's price plan "AHAMO". Instead of cutting support at the docomo shop, there is no complex discount, such as a 20GB of data traffic at 2,980 yen (at the time of the announcement), and a fixed amount of calls for 5 minutes per time, with a simple and very cost performance. Because it was a high price plan, I think that it was new to remember that it quickly received a big reputation. For this reason, mobile companies have moved to follow AHAMO, followed by online brands one after another. In fact, KDDI launched a series of brands such as "Povo" and SoftBank "LINEMO" one after another, and at less than 3,000 yen, it has provided a rate plan for online only, like AHAMO, and has a data communication amount of 20GB. 。 One year has passed soon after the "Ahamo shock". Since the provision of each company's online plan began from March to April 2021, only six months have passed since the actual service provision, but if you follow the trends of each company, it is only for online. You can see that the plan has changed considerably in a short period of time. In fact, KDDI renewed Povo to "Povo 2.0". The base fee is 0 yen per month, and the high -speed data traffic is added to a plan that incorporates a prepaid element that incorporates a prepaid element as necessary, and it makes use of the "topping" mechanism that adds the necessary services for a fee. It was completely different and packed a big topic. SoftBank's LINEMO adds a cheaper mini plan that can use 3GB of communication for 990 yen per month in addition to the conventional "smartphone plan". However, Junichi Miyakawa, the company's president and CEO, was held on November 4, 2021, and Wy Mobile has a better reputation from customers, and low -priced range in the future. Is an impression that LINEMO's presence has dropped in the company in terms of low -priced strategy, such as indicating a policy to focus on Y -Mobile from LINEMO. Is the online exclusive plan growing more than you expected? On the other hand, AHAMO has not changed the content of the price plan since the service started, and has not shown the renewal movement. The reason why each company's online plans has been different is the number of contracts. In fact, as of the end of July 2021, the number of contracts launched in the financial results was that AHAMO was about 1.8 million, POVO was about 900,000, and LINEMO was less than 500,000. According to the numbers announced by each company in the financial results from the end of October to the beginning of November 2021, AHAMO has exceeded 1 million contracts with the start of Povo 2.0, but LINEMO is MVNO. While it has exceeded 1 million contracts with the predecessor "LINE Mobile", which was provided, it is presumed that the contract for LINEMO alone has not been disclosed, so the contract has not increased significantly. 。 It can be said that the difference in the number of contracts has led to a strategy change between KDDI and SoftBank, but if you turn it over, it did not grow as much as you thought, making it easier to take the strategy that each company originally drew. I can. In fact, KDDI was originally planned to establish a subsidiary in partnership with Circles Life in Singapore, which provides mobile communication services that utilizes a topping mechanism, and provide an online specialized mobile communication service using ESIM. 。 However, NTT DOCOMO launched AHAMO in a hurry, so it was necessary to take measures against opposition in a hurry, which led to providing POVO. Therefore, if there was no AHAMO, it would have been highly likely that the service was provided close to Povo 2.0 from the beginning. And since the initial POVO did not have a great success comparable to AHAMO, it may be a change of policy and provide Povo 2.0 services that I wanted to provide. Softbank also plans to focus on the middle and low -priced range in the middle and low -priced range, and LINE Mobile, the predecessor of LINEMO, uses the "LINE" brand rather than SoftBank and Y -Mobile. It was a brand with a strong aim. It was necessary to launch LINEMO in a hurry due to the appearance of AHAMO, but the low -priced range still wants to use Y -Mobile, and it is not more extended than I thought LINEMO's contract was. In response, it can be said that he returned to Y -Mobile -oriented posture again. Both KDDI and SoftBank have a sub brand that is strong in low -priced zones, so the advantage of providing the same service as AHAMO online online is less. Online -only plans have a greater benefit to develop new areas customers, such as young and high literacy users who could not cover them with their two brands, and would be a significant benefit, and in a series of strategic shifts. It seems that it has become stronger. On the other hand, NTT DOCOMO has a very high importance of AHAMO because it has no sub brands, and it is unlikely that it will continue to renew in the future due to the most successful three companies. However, in the case of NTT DOCOMO, the challenge is not an online plan, but a low -priced area that other companies cover with sub brands. In order to cover this area, NTT DOCOMO launches an "Economy MVNO" in cooperation with the external MVNO, and also launches a subsidiary of NTT Communications, which develops "OCN Mobile ONE" that participates in the economy MVNO. We are also showing the attitude of strengthening. However, since Economy MVNO uses the services of another company, there are several disadvantaged elements than other companies' sub brands, such as NTT DOCOMO's conventional plan users need to transfer with the number portability. Is also true. Ahamo's strong NTT DOCOMO has a significant difference in other companies in the online plan, but it is certain that there is a weakness in terms of low -priced sub -brand competition. In terms of total, it seems that the current situation is that trial and error are continuing for each company. Born in Fukushima, Masahiro Sano, graduated from Tohoku Institute of Technology. After developing digital content as an engineer, he turned into a mobile phone and mobile writer. Currently, from industry trends to culture, he writes in a wide range of mobile phones.

Masahiro Sano