This study (a translation of the Japanese report IDC #J12010181) looks at the top 10 trends in the Japan communications market in 2011 and summarizes the future outlook for the market. According to IDC research, spending activity in areas such as cloud, mobility, Big Data, and social network will increase in 2012. These areas are deeply tied to the communications market and are services or markets that expand around networks. Given these trends — globalization, mobile traffic growth and increased spending on wireless networks due to LTE expansion, and strategic datacenter implementation — that will be key communication market trends in 2012, this study provides the top 10 predictions for the Japan communications market.

"Like the previous year, the Japan network equipment market continued to mature and the expansion into high growth emerging markets by Japan equipment vendors is becoming the norm. In particular, Japan vendors that cater to carriers need to actively spend in overseas markets. In addition to high quality and reliable products, in order to compete in these overseas markets, Japan vendors urgently need to create systems that can provide functions and operation/management know-how that has already been proven with services in Japan. Equipment vendors in China that are generally very competitive price-wise have been influential in emerging markets. However, due to numerous issues with after support, the price competitiveness of China equipment vendors is not necessarily much stronger if total cost of ownership (TCO) is evaluated. In addition to price competitiveness in overseas markets, vendors catering to Japan carriers should actively make proposals based on TCO that revolve around high quality, high reliability, and track record. Naturally, local support systems and sales offices are a must," says George Hoffman, group manager, Communications, IDC Japan.