TOKYO-NTT DoCoMo Inc. said it added 299,000 new customers during July, which was roughly 57 percent of the 528,000 total wireless customers the Japanese wireless industry signed for the month. Of the carrier’s total net additions, only 12,900 signed up for DoCoMo’s FOMA third-generation service, leaving the carrier with 127,400 total FOMA customers on its network.
Rival carrier KDDI Corp. reported 104,300 new customers were added last month, but noted it added 493,000 new customers to its cdma2000 1x-based network during July, including customers who switched from its non-1x network. At the end of July, KDDI said it had 1.6 million total 1x customers after only four months of service.
J-Phone said it added 125,000 net customers during the month thanks in large part to its Sha-Mail picture messaging service.
DoCoMo also announced it would introduce a credit card nationwide on Aug. 19 that will allow customers to qualify for discounts and gain priority privileges at about 500 locations throughout Japan. Points will be accumulated with mobile phone use or when using the card for purchases.
