TOKYO-Japan hopes to stoke competition in its hard-to-penetrate mobile-phone market by allowing three new entrants to offer wireless services.
The country’s telecommunications ministry opened the door for Softbank Corp., eAccess Ltd. and IPMobile Inc. to introduce new handsets and services. The new players will vie for market share against existing operators NTT DoCoMo Inc., KDDI Corp. and Vodafone Group plc’s Japanese unit.
The decision, which was widely expected, marks the first time in 12 years Japan has opened bandwidth to new carriers.
High-speed Internet service providers Softbank and eAccess, which are traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, plan to build networks using the 1.7 GHz band, while privately held IPMobile will use spectrum in the 2 GHz range. Shares of eAccess and Softbank rose on the news.
The move is likely good news for Japanese wireless users, who pay the world’s highest prices for mobile-phone services. And the opportunity could be a boon for Softbank, which reported a 41-percent drop in third-quarter revenue due to losses in its fixed-line phone business.
The new entrants hope to lower prices for voice services by using less expensive, foreign-made equipment, and IPMobile plans to offer data-focused mobile broadband services. The new licenses are pending approval from Japanese regulatory agencies.
