The action plan drawn up by the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry on Tuesday to stimulate competition in the mobile phone industry is a step forward in Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga's push to lower mobile phone fees.
SoftBank Corp. and KDDI Corp. announced new reduced fee plans on Wednesday with their respective discount brands. The move, in line with the Cabinet's plan to reduce mobile phone fees, is expected to further intensify competition among the four mobile phone carriers, including NTT Docomo Inc. and Rakuten Inc.
-- Encouraging price cuts
"We are in the final stage," Suga said at a meeting of Liberal Democratic Party executives on Monday about the reality of lowering mobile phone fees, shortly before the announcement of the action plan.
He has long argued that mobile phone fees should be lowered. In the LDP presidential election, he called for drastic price cuts, saying, "The fees should be reduced by 40%."
The government cannot directly determine fees, but the plan was aimed at encouraging mobile phone carriers to compete in the market by imposing pressure from outside the industry. Things are now moving the way the government wants, as major mobile carriers have announced or are preparing their own low-priced plans.
KDDI announced Wednesday that it is set to offer its low-priced UQ mobile broadband plan with 20 GB for 3,980 yen per month from February. On the same day, SoftBank announced that it would offer a new 20 GB plan for 4,480 yen per month through its Y! mobile service from late December.
The current high-capacity plans of SoftBank and KDDI are priced at more than 7,000 yen. Although capacity will be limited to 20 GB in the new plans, fees will fall sharply. Rakuten, which made a full-fledged entry into the mobile phone business in April, offers unlimited data access for 2,980 yen a month.
NTT Docomo is also expected to announce a new discount plan after parent NTT Corp. completes its takeover bid for NTT Docomo.
-- 'No surprises'
Some major mobile phone carriers are moving away from their habit of waiting to see what their rivals do.
The Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry has included in the plan a provision that will, in principle, eliminate the fee charged for keeping the same mobile phone number when switching carriers from next fiscal year. However, the ministry will allow carriers to collect up to 1,000 yen if customers apply at stores or over the phone, not via the internet.
However, SoftBank has already informed the ruling parties of its decision to make the service free even if users conduct the application procedures at shops or by phone. NTT Docomo and KDDI will be forced to respond.
Hiroshi Mikitani, chairman and CEO of Rakuten, attended a mid-October meeting of Komeito, the junior partner of the ruling coalition. Mikitani demanded that the ministry allocate to Rakuten easily connectable frequency waves, called "platinum bands," which are currently monopolized by the three major carriers.
The action plan stipulates the government "will verify effective use [of platinum bands] and consider how to allocate them."
But some elements of the plan may not be as effective as intended -- for example, the policy to establish a system to allow mobile phone e-mail addresses to continue to be used even after changing carriers.
"I wonder how much demand there is. The technical hurdles are also high," an official of a major mobile phone carrier said.
Another said the contents of the plan "are things we've already been working on. There are no surprises."
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