Presentation Materials
Main Q&A (DOCOMO Open House 2020 Presentation)
Announced on Jan. 22, 2020
Please be advised that the following text has been edited/modified from the original Q&A conversations for the sake of clarity.
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Questioner No. 1
Q1 The number of partners recorded an increase from a year ago. Do you foresee the possibility of an earlier-than-expected revenue generation or improved prospects for B-to-B businesses compared to before?
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Q2 Do you see better prospects for 5G’s profit contribution compared to before?
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Questioner No. 2
Q1 Regarding your 5G Open Partner Program, you mentioned that the number of participating organizations grew to over 3,200 as of Dec. 31, 2019. Can you give us a breakdown of solution partners and field partners? Please also give us a breakdown of the 260 trials that you mentioned in today’s presentation.For the field partners, in particular, what are the secrets to successfully bringing the project to the stage of practical implementation?
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Q2 I have a perception that the hurdle of becoming a solution partner is high because a solution has to be developed in the first place and whether the solution can acquire customers is not known in advance, and that the trials targeting service partners have a higher probability of achieving commercialization. Is this true? Also, can you share with us the number and scale of projects for service partners that have clear visibility for practical implementation?
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Questioner No. 3
Q1 You explained the total number of partners exceeded 3,200. Among them, how many are companies that received investments from DOCOMO Ventures at the stage of PoC? I believe some projects are aborted before reaching commercialization. In such case, do you provide financial assistance to your partners? Please elaborate if you have established any criteria for investment.
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Q2 I found some projects promoted by the investees of DOCOMO Ventures in the exhibits in the Business Creation zone. How many of them are likely to advance from PoC to the phase of commercialization?
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Questioner No. 4
Q1 I believe other companies are also undertaking initiatives similar to your Open Partner Program. Of your 3,200 partners, how many have entered into an exclusive partnership with you? Do you think the vast majority of them have overlapping arrangements with other companies as well?
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Q2 In relation to the previous discussion, what is the level of enthusiasm of the companies participating in the Open Partner Program? I believe the companies that are engaged in the 260 trials are quite enthusiastic, but there may be some other companies that are just only collecting information and taking a wait-and-see position. Can you give us an indication concerning the percentage of such companies?
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Q3 Upon the start of commercial 5G service in April 2020 and at the point of approximately six months after launch, how many services, in your expectation, will be offered on a fully commercialized basis charging fees? Sports-related offerings comprised a large part of your pre-commercial offerings. This time around,which category will account for the largest proportion?
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Questioner No. 5
Q1 Of the 3,200 companies participating in your 5G Open Partner Program, are there any cases that are drawing attention and receiving interviews, etc., from overseas media?
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Questioner No. 6
Q1 With respect to Release 16, KDDI seems to have a plan for introduction within FY2021. What is your plan concerning the timeframe of its rollout? Of the 260 trials, how many of them will have to wait for the implementation of Release 16 to start offering commercial service and how many can be launched in spring 2020 without Release 16?
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Q2 I heard the compilation of Release 16 specifications has been running behind the schedule, which originally aimed for completion around March-June, 2020. What are the major factors behind the delay,and at which timing will your network become compatible with Release 16?
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Q3 If so, when can you deliver the enhancements to 5G? It was described to be in the year 202X in the presentation slide explaining the roadmap for 5G rollout.
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Questioner No. 7
Q1 Regarding the effective speed, what level of speed do you anticipate to offer upon the commercial launch this spring?
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Q2 What was the actual rate in your pre-commercial offering?
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Q3 Do you think you can offer that level of speed to general users in your commercial service? In Korea, it seems that the effective speeds are generally not so high in places frequented by users, e.g., shopping centers and underground areas.
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Q4 The network in Korea may be congested because there are already 5 million users. To change the topic,you announced that you will complete the deployment of 10,000 base stations by spring 2021. Can you provide us with any general indicators that will allow us to track your progress, such as number of base stations for each area or coverage rate, etc.?
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Q5 In the initial phase, I believe you will prioritize the rollout in the 23 wards of Tokyo and government-designated cities. What percentage do such large cities account for of the planned 10,000 stations to bedeployed in the first phase?
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Q6 When do you plan to announce the next deployment target after 10,000 stations? KDDI (au) has already unveiled their rollout plan through FY2023.
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Questioner No. 8
Q1 From the perspective of revenue contribution, what kind of business opportunities can you expect in the mass market as a result of the transition to 5G? For example, the migration from 1G to 2G resulted in subscriber growth, 2G to 3G brought about an expansion of content and services, and 3G to 4G proliferated the use of video, SNS and gaming apps, making positive contributions to your revenues. The fact that you conduct as many as 260 trials could also be interpreted that you could not narrow down your key targets. Among these trials, what kind of services do you think will create a large market and lead to expansion of data ARPU and revenue per user?
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Q2 We are keenly watching your operating profit, which I believe will reach over 1 trillion yen eventually. If you envisage your operating profit in ten years from now, what do you think would be the breakdown of profit between consumers and other sources?
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Questioner No. 9
Q1 What is the biggest challenge faced by the companies participating in DOCOMO 5G Open Partner Program? I guess it would be issues relating to cost, business model or technology, but can you share with us how things have evolved in the last two years after the commencement of the program?
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Q2 What will likely be the challenge in two years from now? Will it be cost?
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Q3 Do you foresee that local 5G could become a competitor for your business in the years ahead? Please give us a comment also from the perspective of competition in the acquisition of project orders.
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Questioner No. 10
Q1 One of the major highlights of today’s exhibitions was IOWN. NTT also had a large exhibition of IOWN at the show in Las Vegas. How does DOCOMO plan to engage with IOWN going forward, and what is the new world that you intend to develop with IOWN?
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Q2 Currently, NTT and NTT Electronics are taking the lead in this initiative. Can you explain in what way DOCOMO is involved in its research and development? Are DOCOMO employees participating in the initiatives undertaken by NTT? Please explain the way of your collaboration with NTT.
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Questioner No. 11
Q1 I heard the 3.7GHz band cannot be used in Tokyo Big Sight. When and how do you plan to solve the interference issue?
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Q2 Does that imply this issue cannot expect an immediate resolution, so your target deployment of 10,000 base stations will primarily use the 4.2GHz band?
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Q3 I also cover the gaming companies. In my conversations with them, I often hear requests for an early implementation of the low-latency mode especially for cloud-based games. When do you plan to implement this?
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Q4 In 5G systems, the latency improvement effect is realized more by the installation of servers close to the network rather than shortening the radio interface. Is this the approach you employed?
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