Hello all,
Does any of you have insight into what calling rates are considered "normal"
in the US right now? I have read in numerous acticles that DoCoMo expects to
make similar revenue per user in the US as it is now in Japan. Next, these
articles state amounts: $70 for voice services and $17 for i-mode.
This has led me to think of two possible scenarios:
1) Call rates in the US aren't as cheap as one might expect. Of course there
is the old "Big Mac index**" problem, but here in Holland or Germany DM 140
is quite a lot for your average phone bill. Could mobile phone services in
the United States be less competitive on price due to lack of consumer
demand or maybe another factor?
2) Analysts may have converted Y7000 and Y1700 (ARPU in Japan) into $70 and
$17 themselves, after DoCoMo stated they would expect almost the same ARPU
in America. This would lead to the same "Big Mac index" problem as stated
above. Do these revenues seem reasonable to any of you? Here in Europe, they
would only fit the "heavy business" type user, and I don't think DoCoMo is
falling for *that* trap in rolling out i-mode in the US.
Looking forward to your replies,
Victor
** http://www.economist.com/markets/Bigmac/index.cfm
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Received on Thu Mar 22 16:01:04 2001