1.

Why is the Japanese market attractive for a global wireless operator?

Japan market was ahead in technology compared to its global counterparts. They
were using 3G even when USA and UK were developing 2.5G and the rest of
the world was in 1G and 2G. The technology developed in Japan could be
deployed in other countries .
The Japanese people had increasing need for data usage because they were
restricted to talk in public places. And with Data revenue ARPU can be
increased.
3G was going to be the next big technology in the world of telecom, and the
whole world was going to be configured to the same W- CDMA technology for
3G. Japan being the most advanced mobile internet service market, it was
very attractive to the global wireless operators.
The entry barrier was high for global wireless operators because the PDC
standard used in Japan was different from the GSM or the CDMA technology
used in global markets hence, it was only regional players in the market.

2.

How did entering Japan fit Vodafones global strategy? Why did Vodafone go
to Japan?

Vodafone wanted to be the worlds largest telecom company and wanted to

expand its services to all over the globe. It began to expand by means of
mergers and accusation in various markets. Japans market was at least 2 or
more years ahead of the global markets hence it was important for them to
venture into that market. Absorb the technological knowhow of the Japanese
market and deploy them in other countries. They wanted to reduce the cost
of R&D as well, by already buying out the company (Japan telecom) which
had strong hold in an advanced technology they were able to gain hold of a
new technology at cheaper cost. They wanted to make use of the existing
knowledge of the Japanese employees than teaching them something very
new.

3.

What is your assessment of Vodafones strategy once in Japan?

1. Kept the fixed line

2. kept the J-Phone name and wrote Vodafone in small letters.
3. project V
4. TEPCO deal to spin off fixed line with Japan Telecom, employee morale went
down.
5. Finally spun off to Ripplewood, acquisition of defaulted bank

Org building : Employees were happy that their parent companies have changed
from Japan tele to Vodafone good
Sha-mail : Success of Sha mail , increased ARPU even when voice ARPU was
declining..good
Increasing profitability:
1. No sales incentives.
2. focused on Prepaid handsets, which could be produced at lower costs and
hence require min sales incentives good
3. reduce variety by halfgood
3G:
Used the same resources as 2G and launched mobiles which were compatible to
both W-cDMA and GSM, could be globally used.good
Standardization:
Standardized handset which encouraged manufacturers to sell handset even
outside of Japan
Branding as Voda: the addressed the concerns of the Jphone users regarding
their email address. good.

Good overall.