The Tsunami in Trouble

In May 2002, NTT DoCoMo (DoCoMo) Inc., Japan's largest mobile phone company, announced a net loss of ¥ 116.19 billion and a goodwill write-off of ¥ 624.6 billion for the fiscal ending March 2002. Though the company registered an increase in operating revenues from ¥ 4,669.37 billion in 2000-01 to ¥ 5167.14 billion, the revenue growth was stated to be well below its company expectations. Company sources attributed this to the general decline in Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) for voice services and slower growth in new cellular subscribers across the country (Refer Exhibit I for DoCoMo's financials and ARPU data).