Re: [tlug] (off-topic) Unlimited data plan (mobile internet access) in Japan

[Raymond Wan <rwan.kyoto@example.com>]

On Wed, Sep 3, 2014 at 6:41 PM,  <fgs@example.com> wrote:
> On Wednesday, September 03, 2014 01:57:25 PM Stephen J. Turnbull wrote:
>> There is no connection whatsoever between magnitude of revenue and
>> profitability (which is a boolean defined as sgn(profit)).  (Well, in
>> historical terms large firms usually get that way by being profitable
>> and thus being able to reinvest the profits -- the Japanese way! -- as
>> well as attract new investment.  But that doesn't mean that they'll
>> stay that way.)
>
> By all measures and figures, NTT being 3rd in the world (more than 2x "SoftBank", Japan's second). Still ahead of China Telecom and the likes in the region (Googling ends here).


I'm not much of an expert on Japanese telcos, but I was a bit
surprised to see NTT operating here in Hong Kong [1] and I was in a
European city recently and saw a building with the NTT sign [2].  Of
course, I never peeked inside...each office could have teams of
engineers or just one person swatting flies.  The point is that NTT
operates world-wide and that might contribute to NTT's ranking.  I
never expected seeing the NTT sign here, especially since they are not
a mobile phone provider in Hong Kong.  They clearly have other
business ventures here.  I'd love to be a Docomo customer here,
though...having a Japanese company here might actually get the local
companies to get their act together.

I'm not sure how fair it is to compare any company against China
Telecom.  It is state sponsored and has backing from the Chinese
government in a country with a large population.  Compare that against
a company that may have the Japanese government owning shares, but it
isn't "state-run" in the same sense as China Telecom.  China Telecom
may become #1 in the world one day, but I wouldn't say it got there
"fair and square".

Ray


[1]  http://www.hk.ntt.com/index.html
[2]  http://www.eu.ntt.com/contact-us/office-locations.html