KDDI Digital Life Corporation earns accolade at Asian Telecom Awards 2025
The company brought home the Marketing & Brand Initiative of the Year - Japan award for its commendable digital telco, povo.
KDDI Digital Life Corporation was hailed the winner of the Marketing & Brand Initiative of the Year - Japan category at the Asian Telecom Awards 2025, which embodies its commitment to transforming customer experience amidst Japan's competitive telecommunications market.
Since its 2021 launch, povo has continuously improved the digital telco experience by rapidly adapting to the changing needs of its customers. In 2024, povo recently ranked first amongst its competitors in multiple customer satisfaction surveys, including that year’s Japan Customer Satisfaction Index (Mobile Phone category).
povo has continued to push the boundaries of customer experience in 2024 by initiating innovative marketing strategies and new partnerships. povo's approaches to maximise customer value include the enhancement of products through strategic marketing, reaching new customers with strategic partnerships, and innovating with offline retail.
By integrating marketing strategies into the product development process, povo has leveraged clever product naming, strategically timed product releases and optimised promotional messaging to develop and release buzzworthy products.
One example of this approach is the povo gacha, which brings the excitement of Japanese capsule toys (gacha) to the mobile telco world. With this, customers would purchase a gacha top-up and discover their won product afterwards, providing an element of excitement when purchasing data top-ups.
povo has also introduced a weekend-only unlimited plan, targeting users who want unlimited data during weekends. By focussing the product's marketing around fixed days of the week and tailoring its name to emphasise weekend use, povo saw a 50% increase in revenue from this offering.
Additionally, povo has expanded its reach by integrating its services within popular partner platforms. In 2024, povo partnered with ABEMA, a leading Japanese OTT provider, to offer its services directly on the latter’s platform. This partnership allows customers to sign up for povo's eSIM service, activate it within minutes, and purchase custom top-ups—all from the OTT provider’s interface.
Moreover, povo has pioneered new telco experiences through its partnership with Lawson, one of Japan's leading convenience store chains.
With the launch of povo Data Oasis providing free data top-ups to users visiting Lawson locations nationwide, povo has sought to bridge its digital telco experience with the brick-and-mortar presence of Lawson.
Also part of this initiative is the rollout of point-of-sale activated data top-up cards at Lawson chain locations in 2025, through which povo seeks to further refine its user experience.
Looking ahead, povo is poised for continuous innovation by combining creative marketing strategies, strategic partnerships, and offline integrations.
The Asia Telecom Awards recognises exceptional accomplishments within the telecom industry in the Asia Pacific region. It also highlights the journey of telecom companies that have driven progress and ignited transformative shifts within the sector.
The Asian Telecom Awards is presented by Asian Telecom Magazine. To view the full list of winners, click here. If you want to join the 2026 awards programme and be acclaimed for delivering cutting-edge, award-winning telco products and services to customers, please contact Julie Anne Nuñez-Difuntorum at [email protected].
