(keitai-l) packet fees vs. flatfee

From: M. David <davidm1_at_hotmail.com>
Date: 01/21/01
Message-ID: <LAW2-F525U9T3TGJ2TU00003c4d@hotmail.com>
>One argument is that AOL's usage took off after they removed their
>time-based fee structure. While I cannot deny the research, I am not
>confident that it applies to the situation where bandwidth is very narrow
>and expensive, as is the current network. In AOL's case, they jammed up
>their modems for several weeks after the change. They did manage to 
upgrade
>capacity, but at a much lower cost and faster timeframe than NTT Docomo
>could reasonably achieve. 

And shortly after going to a flat fee pricing model, AOL was sued by the 
Attorney Generals of several states. I dont know how likely the Japanese 
government would be to go after DoCoMo, but I read somewhere that they may 
be treated differently because of their market dominance. The Japanese FTC 
recently went after NTT East for preventing ADSL companies from using their 
local loop, and the Posts and Telecommunications Ministry seems to be 
getting fed up in with the NTT holding company refusing to decrease it's 
position in DoCoMo. 

I think DoCoMo will be very careful about keeping up quality for it's 
customers, and use aquisitions, great contents and strong branding to spur 
growth. Generally, Japanese people don't mind paying high prices if they 
believe the quality or at least the perceived quality is high. Companies in 
Japan have often used high prices at home to keep up p/e while expanding 
overseas.

By the way, does docomo charge packet fees for all the sites on the 
official menu list? If so they would also be making extra packet fees when 
their subsidiary advertising company places ads in the official menu areas. 
(double dipping)

David M.

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Received on Sun Jan 21 19:22:57 2001