Japanese mobile data growth is poised to explode in the coming years and lead to more competition in an industry now controlled by only three major players. 

That was the assessment of Sachio Semmoto, founder and chairman of eMobile, a new entrant into the Japanese mobile market who spoke on Sunday at the opening session of Red Herring's ETRE European technology conference in Budapest.

"The three companies control a $73 billion a year market that is highly uncompetative,"  Mr. Semmoto said. 

eMobile is trying to take on the three existing Japanese mobile companies: NTT DoCoMo, KDDI and Softbank. But unlike his competitors, eMobile is initially focusing on the mobile data market that accounts for only 1 percent to 2 percent of revenue for mobile operators. The company is offering a $49 flat rate a month service, a fraction of the price of its giant competitors.

"The sharp drop in the price of 3G network equipment will help us succeed in rapid penetration of the market," said Mr. Semmoto, a serial entrepreneur who previoiusly founded telecommunications giant KDDI and eAccess, a broadband service provider.

He expects that the low rates will lead to sharp growth in mobile data usage by Japanese consumers. The company launched its mobile data service three months ago and already has 130,000 customers. eMobile plans to offer voice services early next year.

Japan has one of the highest average revenue per user rates in the world and this has led to a low minute usage rate by Japanese consumers. Mr. Semmoto said that these high rates contrasted with other segments of the Japanese telecommunications market that were highly competative. For example, he said that in the broadband field there were some 300 players and this led to low rates and high penetration levels.