3G subscribers come near 46 million in Japan

Japan 3G user base grew to 45.9 million in February, surpassing the number of wireless users with 2G handsets (44.8m). This milestone was achieved because of energetic efforts by three major carriers to switch their 2G subscribers to 3G services.

DoCoMo outshined KDDI au in a second time in a row, adding 828 thousand subscribers to its 3G FOMA service, while KDDI au signed only 309 thousand 3G customers. KDDI au reports 96% or 21.1 million of its customers now being subscribed to 3G service (this includes both CDMA2000 1x and EV-DO services). In contrast, DoCoMo has switched to 3G only 43% (22m) of its customer base. Vodafone added 195 thousand 3G subscribers, ending February with 2.7 million (18%) 3G users.