Japan ends 2005 with more than 90 million handset users

According to the Telecommunications Carriers Association (TCA), in 2005 Japan's total cellular user base grew 0.6% on a yearly base, reaching 90.2 million subscribers.

In 2005, Japanese operators were pretty much occupied by switching their subscribers to 3G base. KDDI's initial lead in 3G disappeared as NTT DoCoMo finished the year with more than 20 million 3G subscribers. And DoCoMo still has a room to grow as it converted to 3G only around 40% of its user base, while KDDI is nearly out of human resources with 83% of its user base already enjoying 3G services. Vodafone was a big disappointment in 2005, losing customers during the whole year. However, Vodafone recorded some net additions in the last two months, which can be seen as a sign of recovery.