Japan’s telecoms battle heats up weeks before new ruling

When mobile operators counter each other's moves like-for-like within weeks of each other, you know you have a fight on your hands. NTT DoCoMo, Japan's biggest mobile-phone operator, said it will offer 14 new handsets, including models that support music transfers to computers to counter a similar service by KDDI Corp, according to Bloomberg.

DoCoMo, which has about 56 percent of the market, said 11 of the handsets will have music-playing and other entertainment functions. The models are part of a plan announced September 28 to introduce 20 new handsets by March 2007, the Tokyo-based company said in a press release on its Web site.

KDDI, Japan's second-biggest wireless operator, in January unveiled its au Listen Mobile Service, LISMO. The service allows users to download and store music on their personal computers and to transfer those songs to their mobile phones. As of May 20, subscribers had downloaded more than 50 million songs to its au high-speed phones and to PCs, KDDI said.

The number portability ruling, due on October 24th, has really changed the playing field for Japan’s top mobile operators. Now, they’re offering new models and services to keep and lure subscribers in Japan's $74 billion market. Music services may help retain users because some songs downloaded to handsets aren't transferable to other carriers' phones.

So are there any other ways that cellular operators can try to retain their customers? Will customers bite or will they wait and see what the other operators can come up with? Let us know what you think.