New Japanese operator E-Mobile – focused on providing HSPA services via a data-centric business model – is aiming to start generating a profit after only around two years of service. “Hopefully the business will be profitable next year,” founder, chairman and CEO, Dr. Sachio Semmoto, said during his keynote speech at the GSMA Mobile Asia Congress yesterday. Such an achievement would follow funding in May 2006 of approximately US$4 billion. The operator has already attracted a customer base of almost 1 million (914,200) after launching a 3.6Mb/s HSDPA flat-rate data service in March 2007. “Our subscriber net additions are faster than the combined total of NTT DoCoMo’s and KDDI,” he said.

E-Mobile says it is the only operator in the country to have a data-centric strategy with flat-rate unlimited data packages, offer netbook-bundling marketing, and provide mobile and fixed bundled services. It claims to offer the fastest mobile data speeds of Japan’s operators – having launched 1.4Mb/s HSUPA services this month following last year’s deployment of 7.2Mb/s HSDPA – and is the cheapest. Until now the company has been focused on offering data services via netbooks (also known as ultra-mobile PCs), but moved into the smartphone sector last month with the launch of HTC’s Touch Diamond. It plans to launch two new handsets early next year.