Free Bit President Ishida's "outside" participated in DOCOMO's economy MVNO

Hiroki Ishida, president of the freebit participating in "Docomo's Economy MVNO"

It's a very happy thing that many people can know at a docomo shop

Tone Mobile started MVNO services in November 2013 as the predecessor Freebit Mobile.With an easy -to -understand price setting of 1,000 yen per month and 2,000 yen (price notation at that time is excluding tax) even if the installment price of the original terminal is combined, it provides unique services such as watching over children and enhanced support for seniors.I have done it.In 2015, the service name was changed to Tone Mobile, with a capital and business tie -up with the CCC Group developing TSUTAYA.However, in December 2019, the partnership with CCC was eliminated.

Tone Mobile is currently providing services by Dream Train Internet (DTI), which is currently affiliated with free bits.On the other hand, "Tone Mobile for docomo" has renewed the logo, and the new company's representative tone lifestyle will provide services.

In a commercial that will be aired at the start of the new service, actor Kentaro Sakaguchi says, "No way tone will be a friend of docomo."In fact, many people have similar impressions?

Why did Tone Mobile decide to partner with DoCoMo?According to Ishida, there was a desire to "increase the contact with users and hear that voice" that has been hugging since the predecessor's Freebit Mobile era.

――Please tell us how you participated in “DOCOMO Economy MVNO”.

Ishida: In the medium -term management plan announced in 2018, we included the opening of our characteristics, "Safety and Safety Service".With a view to providing it to a career to open and expanding, I was starting to create a mechanism for using other accounts.

On the other hand, the tone service has always been a dilemma that it can understand its goodness as long as it is known, but that there is not enough contact for that.This time, I received a voice from DOCOMO.It is very happy to be able to get to know our services and have the opportunity to touch them, and I really wanted to proceed.

――In the FREEBIT MOBILE era, you opened your own store, and after the partnership with CCC, TSUTAYA, and then the camera Kitamura, and you've been particular about the sales of over -the -counter.

Ishida: Our targets are children who use smartphones for the first time and are seniors.What is needed to provide such people with "safety and security"?I have created a service in search of that complete solution.In order to pursue a complete solution, we believe that the voice of customers from realistic points is very important.By being handled at a docomo shop, you will be able to have a huge number of contacts of 2,300 stores.Of course, there are many voices that come together, so I think how to make use of it is one game.

―― “Safety and secure service” is a major feature of tone mobile, but why did you decide to develop such services in the first place?

Ishida: We entered the MVNO business because we thought it was important to expand your smartphone to realize a freebit philosophy of "expanding the Internet and contributing to society."On the other hand, since I have experienced oligopolization in the fixed network world, I knew that if mobile services were only available for mobile, I would eventually have to have it.Therefore, services such as the "TONE Family" were born to provide services with multi -layer in addition to the line.

It was a directly managed store that opened in Fukuoka and Tenjin in 2013 that integrated not only the service but also the sales method, including the sales method, to the store, to the store.After a long time to make a user experience at the store, after all partners with CCC, we had the know -how.

――CCC has been resolved in 2015 and has been resolved in 2019.What was this reason?

Ishida: Originally, it was a partner that CCC started and started, but the synergy effect between the two did not appear so far.TSUTAYA is mostly franchise, so it was more difficult to expand the service store than I thought.Conversely, CCC was expected to attract customers by tone, but many people came to buy nominations and could not respond.Mr. Masuda (editor -in -chief: President Muneaki Masuda of CCC) has really studied a lot and feels a favor, but I think that the fact that they could not multiply with each other was solved.

Currently, Kitamura, a camera of the same CCC group, is handled, but the company was directly managed, so it was helpful that the store was expanded quickly.However, basically, there are some places where customers are doing it because they have time to make a reservation, so it is difficult for customers to reach us.In that sense, when I was looking for a new contact, DOCOMO said.

I'm talking about the possibility of selling dedicated terminals of Android, which is the Honmaru

――Why is the service provided by DoCoMo only for iPhone?

Ishida: Android has a full solution of "Safety and secure service" with a dedicated terminal, so if you simply provide it as a SIM, it will not be a complete solution.In that regard, the iPhone thought it would be easy to get our characteristics.Not only the iPhone sold at the docomo shop, but also the iPhone brought in from the outside, so we decided to start there.

You can increase the number of service plans, but I think it is necessary to have various discussions in the future whether the plan is easy to sell at a docomo shop.How to realize a plan combined with the dedicated terminal of Android, the Honmaru.If we don't have it, we will not be completely solved, so I would like to aim for the terminals at the store.Especially for seniors, there are some places that cannot be supported unless it is a dedicated terminal.However, it is unprecedented to sell other companies' terminals at docomo shops.We are talking about whether it is possible.

――DOCOMO Economy MVNO is now two of OCN Mobile ONE and tone mobile for docomo, and OCN Mobile ONE will soon be a DOCOMO umbrella service.Tone mobile is "outside", so is it difficult to do?

Ishida: I don't feel it.We have you do it at a very fair, and we have you cooperate in cooperation while discussing the details.However, I feel that the hurdle for selling at the docomo shop is still expensive.Career and MVNO like us have a very different regulation.In order for the store staff to be in trouble with that, we have made a judgment and matching the standards.In the end, we leave us, but we have been pointing out by Mr. DOCOMO that we will not be misunderstood by our customers.

――I think there is a possibility that the number of participating MVNOs will increase in the future, but how do you differentiate?

Ishida: I think it is to clarify the target.It is difficult to understand that the price changes only with the campaign, so we believe it is important to develop it as a completely different thing.However, it is our thoughts, and if you do not meet the needs, you will not be able to become Winwin if you do not meet the needs of DOCOMO.

Our plan may not be a plan in the middle of the so -called MVNO throat, but we believe that DOCOMO can contribute to the acquisition of d accounts in "Tone Mobile for docomo".In order for children to use a junior service, parents will need an account, so the D account will increase up to 3 accounts at a time.The chat application "ONE Messenger", which can be used in the "Tone Family", will also support D accounts, so if you do so, you may be able to use the service to further increase your account.I think that we can build a Winwin relationship, which is different from other companies.

――What do you expect from DoCoMo in the future?

Ishida: That's right ...I often ask for sales targets, but honestly I don't know how much you can sell.Currently, about 100 stores are handled by the camera Kitamura, so if it is 23 times, we will be happy, but I do not really know that.However, I hope that we can recommend it to customers who have a match with our services, and I think it will be happy for our customers.

――The medium -term plan of the freebit includes opening and applying a variety of tone mobile technologies in the future and applying it to a wide range of fields.This time, a new company has been established, but please tell us about the future development.

Ishida: Now, all the windows of everyday life and the Internet world are concentrated on smartphones.We can make that core device in -house.On the other hand, the player has been greatly replaced when it switches from 2g to 3G and 3G to 4G.Even if the player will be replaced again at 5G, what kind of lifestyle we can provide in that era?I think the showroom will be tone mobile.

From now on, everything will change, such as medical care, entertainment, mobility.We are now preparing for the base technology, for example, a blockchain.At the same time, we are also providing the technical components to the outside, and one of them is one of the various initiatives with Alps Alpine.Similarly, the external expansion of tone mobile technology is being promoted, and I think that something really surprising will come out from the beginning of the year.I hope you look forward to it.

--thank you very much.

Author: Yuriko Ota

Tech writer, editor.From the dawn of the Internet, he has been involved in the launch of web directions, Internet -related free paper, and information magazines.Since then, he has been conducting and writing, focusing on familiar digital gadgets, various services, applications, and related businesses that can be used through their familiar digital gadgets, from PCs, mobile phones, smartphones, to wearable devices, and IoT devices.