Telecom Lead @ Mobile World Congress 2013: Japan’s KDDI has tapped Ericsson for deploying IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) to deliver multimedia services.
Ericsson’s IMS will enable KDDI to deliver latest telecommunication services for its over 35 million subscribers.
At the Mobile World Congress — Ericsson said that the deployment of IMS is scheduled to commence after the second half of 2013.
KDDI has introduced LTE / 4G mobile broadband services in September 2012.
Ericsson’s IMS will also pave the way for KDDI to launch additional services such as Rich Communications Suite (RCS), HD voice over LTE (VoLTE) and video calling over LTE.
The company implemented its medium to long term strategies – the 3M Strategy and the Global Strategy – targeting the realization of the three commitments: “More Connected” “More Diverse Values” “More
Global.”
As of December 2012, the number of au subscribers to the service topped 2.8 million, and the number of fixed-line subscribers 1.6 million. In addition, the number of “au Smart Pass” members exceeded 4 million. To take advantage of our competitive edge in owning both mobile and fixed-line networks, we are implementing the 3M Strategy aggressively.
Yoshiharu Shimatani, senior vice president, KDDI, said: “Introducing IMS will enable us to make the most of KDDI’s past investment and launch additional rich services in future.”
Ericsson will provide KDDI with a complete solution including IMS and system integration.
KDDI has reported an 85 percent increase in third-quarter net profit to 100.49 billion yen ($1.11 billion).
Consolidated revenue increased 9.5 percent to 969.9 billion yen, of which around 620 billion yen came from KDDI’s telecom businesses.
Mobile service revenue for the quarter grew 1.2 percent to $398.2 billion yen.
Mobile unit au added 1.71 million subscribers for the first nine months of its financial year, up from 1.3 million a year earlier. The company ended the quarter with 38.8 million mobile subs. au’s ARPU for the third quarter fell 6.5 percent to 4,220 yen.
