DoCoMo Called World's Most Successful With Cellular Data

Japan's NTT DoCoMo is the most successful cellular carrier in the world when it comes to cellular data, a study released Tuesday claims.

According to the study by Informa Telecoms & Media, DoCoMo's average return per user (ARPU) for data services in the second quarter of this year was $17.60, most of which came from its long-successful i-mode service.

"This is higher than many operators’ voice and data ARPU combined,” Kester Mann, senior research analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media, said in a statement.

By contrast, the European carrier with the best data ARPU is O2 Ireland, which reported $13.70 for the same quarter, according to the study.

NTT DoCoMo has 43.3 million active i-mode users, which is about 85 percent of all its subscribers, the study found. Its data services generated more than $2.4 billion during the second quarter, according to the study.