NTT DoCoMo, USA: Can it Bring the Wireless Internet to America?

Abstract

In this paper, the authors address NTT DoCoMo's business venture and how it brought its advanced wireless internet products to the U.S. telecommunications market. The authors assess its prospects and analyze the transferability of DoCoMo's competitive advantages in Japan to the U.S. wireless markets, particularly given their choice of a strategic partner in the United States. Its strategy to date has languished following the recent collapse of telecommunications infrastructure development, and the company recently wrote off $10.9 billion of these international investments. We therefore analyze a variety of strategic alternatives ranging from technology licensor to network operator and recommend a strategy that capitalizes upon the firm's strengths to improve its competitive situation. The analysis considers capital requirements, distribution networks, marketing capabilities and the race to establish worldwide cellular communications standards. The authors' recommendation is that DoCoMo remain in the United States as a non-exclusive licensor of its i-mode technologies with a long-term view of using this position to later introduce its new generation of high bandwidth 3G technologies.

Keywords: Business Strategy, Asia and Pacific Rim, North America, Internet, Wireless, Mobile Media, AT&T, NTT DoCoMo, 3G