John Whelan is Off Portal and Off Net!

Vodafone to sell out in Japan

Reliable sources in the blogosphere indicate that Vodafone is finally going to call it a day and sell out of Japan. Share price of a local ISP Softbank Corp. climbed on Friday after saying it may buy Vodafone Group Plc's local unit.

There is no doubt that Vodafone's foray with the purchase of a majority stake of the second biggest operator (at the time! - not any more see table) in Japan , J-phone has parallels to Napoleon's march on Moscow. That is to put it mildy it has not been too successful.

Daniel Scuka worthy commentator on all things mobile in Japan has given a number of reasons today for the failure:
1. Technology: Tried to force global 3G standards on Japanese market rather than sticking with standards already proven to be working in Japan.
2. Market Structure: Prepaid doesn't work in Japan. More importantly MNOs rather than handset makers wield the power in Japan.
3. Culture: The 64 million yen issue.

Considering Vodafone's recent exit from Sweden, due to intense pricing pressure from MVNOs, I hope this is not a trend. The good news is that the markets are reacting favourably to the proposed sell out and this can leave Vodafone to concentrate on its core European markets.

posted by alatto @ 9:33 AM