KDDI mobile business hit by falling ARPU

KDDI mobile business hit by falling ARPU

Japan-based KDDI booked a small increase in total revenue in its fiscal Q2 (ending 30 September), as double-digit handset sales growth offset flat mobile service revenue which was impacted by lower ARPU.

On an earnings call, president Makoto Takahashi said its 5G subscriber base reached 4.7 million and is forecast to top 8 million by end-March 2022. Data traffic per person is more than 2.5-times higher than LTE, he noted.

Takahashi believes it will take time for traffic growth to translate into revenue gains, explaining it’s really about how it can replace existing plans with new ones given “this sort of traffic, that’s the challenge we face. And with increasing activities, the value-added service at the top layer will increase as well”.

Mobile service revenue was flat year-on-year at JPY432.9 billion ($3.8 billion) with a 3.2 per cent drop in blended ARPU to JPY4,270. Handset sales grew 15.5 per cent to JPY167.8 billion.

Net profit fell 10 per cent to JPY171.6 billion and total operating revenue rose 1.7 per cent to JPY1.1 trillion.

Life Design turnover was up 4.7 per cent to JPY336 billion, while business services sales grew 4.5 per cent to JPY254.5 billion.

Total subscribers increased 1.4 per cent to 60.8 million.


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