Aiming of "+message" that provided support for sub brands and MVNOs

NTT DOCOMO, KDDI, and SoftBank will be able to use the MVNO, which rents all three mobile companies and the MVNO of all three mobile companies and their lines on September 2.We announced that it will be.Compared to "LINE", it is a much inferior in name and users+messages, but why did you take it to expand your use at this time?

+Message that has changed the strategy of "main brand only"

+Message is a message service that can be used through telephone numbers, provided by three major mobile phones of NTT DOCOMO, KDDI, and Softbank since 2018.It is a message service for smartphones that allows you to exchange messages with texts and images like "LINE". Due to the standard service of the mobile phone company, the users exceeded 25 million in July 2021.It is also a service that has many users.

However, the honest place is that it is less well -known than LINE, which has about 88 million users.There are several factors, but the biggest factor is that+message may not be available depending on the communication service.

Because the+message is a service that uses a technology of mobile communication, not the technology of the Internet, and a technique called RCS (Rich Communication Services), which is more specific, the successor to SMS.Therefore, it is not possible to use the application like LINE, and it is necessary to respond to the mobile communication network side.

Until now, the communication services that support+message were only the main brands of three major mobile phones (including NTT DOCOMO's "AHAMO") and KDDI's "Povo", which could not be used for other services.is.Therefore, on September 2, 2021, the three mobile phones announced that they would expand the communication services corresponding to+message.

Specifically, KDDI's "UQ Mobile", SoftBank's "Y -Mobile" and "LINEMO", and MVNOs, which rent a network from three companies, will be able to use+message in the future.There seems to be a difference depending on the service, but it is certain that a series of measures are to boost service expansion.

However, looking back on the conventional+messages, the three mobile phones will expand their+messages for the use of MVNOs, saying, "If there is a request from the MVNO side, we will respond."He was never positive.Why did that turned to increase the target services and expand the use?

The aim to compete with LINE is "Digitization of administrative services"

I see that there is a great aim to gain digitalization demand for administrative services.The Japanese government has been rushing to digitize administrative services, including the launch of the digital government in September 2021, as a majority of the Corona evils have been delayed in digitalization of administration.

Smartphones are considered to be promising as a digitized administrative service window, but LINE is currently gaining its demand in one of the most Japanese smartphone users.In fact, LINE has recently been used for various administrative services, such as reservations for vaccination for new colonovirus, and LINE is also focusing on gaining demand for administrative services.

However, on the other hand, in March 2021, it clearly explains that the data of users in Japan can be viewed in China in March 2021, and that some data has been managed in Korea.Many problems with information management were pointed out, such as not, and it was a major uproar.

Of course, LINE has taken measures such as transferring data from Japanese users to domestic servers under a series of problems, but this is only because administrative services depend on LINE only.It can be said that it showed problems and risks.Therefore, it is expected that the service will be replaced by LINE, which is expected to be promising.

This is because the+message has a sense of security that three domestic mobile phones are operated, and since it can be exchanged through phone numbers, there is an advantage that not only young generations but also seniors can use.We aim to have the government use it as a substitute for LINE by increasing the number of users that have become an issue due to the expansion of the target services in terms of providing administrative services.It is thought to be.

Therefore, with a series of measures, the+message may not take up everyday communication demand from LINE, but aim for a service that will be used when necessary in administrative procedures.However, due to the structure that each of the three mobile companies is provided by the three mobile companies, it is true that there are still less issues to become an alternative to LINE.

One of them is that Rakuten Mobile does not support+message.Rakuten Mobile uses the same RCS technology as the+message and develops its own communication service "RAKUTEN LINK", so it is considered difficult to respond to+message.As the number of Rakuten Mobile users increases, this point seems to be a major issue.

The other is that SoftBank became a substantial parent company of LINE after being integrated with LINE and Z Holdings in March 2021.Softbank has become unclear how much the company will focus on+message in the future, as LINE has become a contradictory position of having a competitive+message.In fact, NTT DOCOMO and KDDI will respond to+messages sub brands and MVNOs in September 2021, but NTT DOCOMO announced the postponement of MVNOs that will take time to prepare.In addition, SoftBank responds to LINEMO and Y -Mobile, which is considerably ahead of the spring of 2022, and seems to have a temperature difference between carriers.

For this reason, it is extremely important to be able to absorb the differences between four mobile phones, including Rakuten Mobile, and to collaborate with the reliability of+message.that's right.

Born in Fukushima Prefecture, graduated from Tohoku Institute of Technology.After developing digital content as an engineer, he turned into a mobile phone and mobile writer.Currently, he writes in a wide range of fields related to mobile phones, from industry trends to culture.