LIVE FROM GSMA MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS SHANGHAI: Kazuhiro Yoshizawa, newly installed CEO of Japan’s largest operator NTT Docomo, highlighted the company’s moves to boost revenue in the evolving digital world, positioning the company as an example to its international peers.

Noting continued pressure on voice and data service revenue, the executive said that “overcoming this challenge is a major concern for carriers around the world”, and one which has also impacted Docomo. In order to counter this, it has grown its non-communications businesses.

“We believe our revenue is trending five to ten years ahead of our global peers. So our performance can serve as an indicator for our industry,” he said today during a keynote.

Three pillars
Docomo’s work is based around three pillars: the creation and evolution of services; promoting joint value creation efforts with partners; and the reinforcement of its foundations, including its network.

The company’s Dmarket content services have more than 15 million subscribers, accessing content including video, music and magazines, as well as education and healthcare material. Its DTV service has five million subscribers, while more than three million subscribers have signed up for Dmagazine in 21 months since its launch.

This delivers a “significant contribution to the expansion of our non-telecom business,” he said.

Docomo is also partnering with other companies to create shared value in sectors such as retail, transport, education and healthcare, as well as in the fledgling IoT space. This involves using the operator’s strengths in billing and payment platforms, as well as its research and development capabilities and its customer base.

And underpinning this is a continued investment in networks. While Docomo has ambitious plans for 5G, it is also continuing its LTE investment, with 375Mb/s services available now and the plan to offer 500Mb/s before the end of the current financial year (March 2017).

This was described as a “solid step forward” in paving the way for 5G services in 2020.