Goldman Sachs | Japan Telecom Services: Sector Strategy — Signs of Easing Mobile Competition, a Shift to Growth on Higher ARPU; Buy NTT and SoftBank
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Goldman Sachs' Japan telecom services sector strategy argues that mobile competition is showing signs of easing, positioning the industry to shift into a growth phase supported by higher ARPU; the firm rates NTT and SoftBank Buy. A valuation table anchors the investment case. The report notes solid results, but flags network quality and net subscriber additions across mobile operators as the key watch items following the roaming agreements. Subscriber numbers have moved temporarily lower as NTT DoCoMo terminated 3G service and SoftBank pivoted toward a strategy that prioritizes long-term customers. Underlying demand remains robust: monthly traffic per contract across the four major operators is growing about 19% per year, driven by expanding video consumption. In Opensignal's reliability-experience rankings, KDDI (au) holds the top spot while NTT DoCoMo has moved off the bottom. The report also tracks financial/payment transaction values alongside credit card transaction value and contract counts, and examines Rakuten Group's mobile business gains, rounding out a sector view built on easing competition, rising data usage and improving service quality.
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