Japan: Operators Focus on Core Service Convergence; Diversify Revenue Through New Business Lines

Summary The telecommunications market in Japan generated $118.8bn (JPY 14,383.2bn) in service revenue in 2015. Telecom services revenue is expected to grow at a CAGR of 1.7% during 2015-2020, primarily driven by the growth in mobile data revenue. Mobile data will be the fastest-growing segment, registering a CAGR of 7.2% over 2015-2020, followed by pay-TV (2.2%). To offset the decline in traditional fixed and mobile voice and messaging revenue, operators are focusing on boosting the fixed broadband uptake through bundled offerings and mobile data via mobile broadband and data intensive mobile value-added services. In addition, the ongoing investment in network enhancements and advanced 5G technology will enable operators to support bandwidth intensive value-added services, such as mobile money, multimedia browsing, OTT, mobile TV and e-commerce apps, etc. Operators are focusing on diversifying their revenue streams via expanding their offerings in IoT/M2M and enterprise markets. Key Findings - Overall telecom services revenue in Japan is estimated to generate $119.6bn in 2016 (up by 0.6% over 2015) and is estimated to reach $129.5bn by 2020, a CAGR of 1.7% during 2015-2020. The growth will be mainly driven by data segments (mobile and fixed). - Mobile revenue will account for 60.4% of total telecom revenue in 2020, mainly driven by mobile data services, which is expected to grow at the highest CAGR of 7.2% during 2015-2020. - We expect the contribution of Internet access to fixed services revenue to increase from 43.0% in 2016, to 49% by 2020, driven by the up-sell strategy of the operators. - The Japanese telecom market will be dominated by NTT as the leading mobile and fixed operator, followed by KDDI and SoftBank. Due to market saturation and declining traditional service revenues, operators' focus will remain on multiplay services and innovative bundled offerings. Moreover, operators will continue to invest on LTE expansion, 5G, 8K ultra-HD and IoT/M2M technologies to have a competitive edge in the market. Synopsis “Japan: Operators Focus on Core Service Convergence; Diversify Revenue Through New Business Lines” provides an executive-level overview of the telecommunications market in Japan today, with detailed forecasts of key indicators up to 2020. It delivers deep quantitative and qualitative insight into Japanese telecom market, analyzing key trends, evaluating near-term opportunities and assessing risk factors, based on proprietary data from Pyramid Research's databases. The Country Intelligence Report provides in-depth analysis of the following: - Regional context: Telecom market size and trends in Japan compared with other countries in the Asia-Pacific region. - Economic, demographic and political context in Japan. - The regulatory environment and trends: a review of the regulatory setting and agenda for the next 18-24 months as well as relevant developments pertaining to spectrum licensing, national broadband plans, number portability and more. - A demand profile: analysis as well as historical figures and forecasts of service revenue from the fixed telephony, fixed Internet, mobile voice and mobile data and pay-TV. - Service evolution: a look at changes in the breakdown of overall revenue between the fixed and mobile sectors and between voice, data and video from 2013 to 2020. - The competitive landscape: an examination of key trends in competition and in the performance, revenue market shares and expected moves of service providers over the next 18-24 months. - In-depth sector analysis of fixed telephony, broadband, mobile voice and mobile data services: a quantitative analysis of service adoption trends by network technology and by operator, as well as of average revenue per line/subscription and service revenue through the end of the forecast period. - Main opportunities: this section details the near-term opportunities for operators, vendors and investors in Japan's telecommunications market. Reasons To Buy - Gain in-depth analysis of current strategies and future trends of the telecommunications market in Japan, service providers and key opportunities in a concise format, to build proactive and profitable growth strategies. - Understand the factors behind ongoing and upcoming trends in Japan's mobile communications, fixed telephony, broadband markets and pay-TV markets, including the evolution of service provider market shares, to align product offerings and strategies to meet customer's demand. - Leverage the graphical information (more than 20 charts and tables in the report based on the Pyramid Research forecast products), to gain an overview of the telecom market in Japan. - Analysis of key telecom players in the markets and major business strategies being adopted by them, to identify the opportunities to improve the market share. Explore novel opportunities to align your product strategies and offerings to meet the requirements and succeed in the challenging telecommunications market in Japan.