LIVE FROM HUAWEI MOBILE BROADBAND FORUM 2016, TOKYO: Hiroshi Nakamura, SVP, general manager of R&D strategy at NTT Docomo, highlighted the increasing importance of cross-industry collaboration as a way to diversify services and fill a revenue gap left by maturing traditional mobile offerings.

Nakamura said mobile business trends had changed in recent years, with global revenue beginning to decrease due to maturation.

However, the problem is less prominent in Japan and at Docomo in particular, claimed Nakamura, with the company pushing hard on “co-creating value” through collaboration, and launching a platform around digital content.

Dubbed “dmarket”, it operates a content hub offering rich digital services, such as TV and magazine subscriptions, in partnership with numerous content companies.

And the strategy has been fruitful so far, with five million subscribers for its dTV offering, which provides access to more than 120,000 titles, and makes it the number one player for video distribution in the country, as well as three million subscribers for magazines.

It also offers the service to customers of rival operators, which Nakamura said is key to its success so far.

Honing in on the theme of collaboration, the NTT executive said co-creating value through collaboration would extend to numerous new services, including artificial intelligence, drones and automotive driving.