Vodafone President Darryl Green said Wednesday the company will take aggressive measures to increase the number of its mobile phone service subscribers.
The firm, which changed its corporate name from J-Phone Co. the same day, has seen declining growth in its subscription numbers in recent months.
In August, the number of subscribers to J-Phone services grew by 50,000, compared with 190,000 at NTT DoCoMo Inc. Subscribers to KDDI Corp.'s au service grew by 200,000 during the same month.
To boost growth, Vodafone will introduce a discount program in December targeting data transaction charges for services such as e-mail, company officials said.
Vodafone, the nation's third-largest mobile phone firm, is owned 70 percent by British Vodafone Group PLC's group companies.
Also in December, Vodafone will start selling handsets that can receive analog TV broadcasts, Green told a news conference.
The firm will also target corporate customers because a growing number of companies are expected introduce wireless telephone systems in their offices, he said. Vodafone hopes to lift the number of subscribers to its high-speed third generation mobile phone service, launched in December, to 1 million as soon as possible, he said. As of the end of August, the service had just 75,100 subscribers.