Under Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga's key policy, new measures have been immediately revealed. It is important to not only be speedy but also be effective in actually delivering benefits to users.
The Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry has announced an action plan to vitalize the mobile phone market. The plan is mainly designed to realize an easy-to-understand and convincing mobile phone fee structure and make it easier for users to switch carriers.
In his policy speech, Suga, who has advocated lowering mobile phone fees, said, "We'll get to work on things we can do, and make efforts to bring about tangible results and make users really feel the benefits." It is commendable that the prime minister presented specific measures just over a month after taking office.
Primarily, the government should avoid intervening in the management strategies and pricing decisions of private companies. But mobile phones have already become an integral part of social infrastructure. The foundation of such businesses is radio waves, which are public property.
The current situation is not desirable, in which the oligopoly of three major companies, NTT Docomo Inc., au operator KDDI Corp. and SoftBank Corp., has made domestic mobile phone fees relatively high from a global perspective and these companies are making a lot of profit.
The three major companies have already expressed their intentions to lower fees. They are expected to announce the details of their fee reductions soon. It is hoped that the action plan will steadily lead to the acceleration of price competition among them.
The current fee system is complicated because there are various conditions, such as discounts when contracts are bundled with other family members' or in exchange for combining a contract with one for an optical fiber internet line. There are probably not many people who sign contracts based on a full understanding of these conditions.
The communications ministry reportedly plans to create a website by the end of this year intended to help people choose the best plan for their mobile phone usage. Through the website, the ministry intends to explain the procedures and what users should pay attention to when changing carriers, among others. A user-friendly website that many people can understand should be built.
In addition, it is important to encourage mobile phone users to actively switch carriers.
The "number portability service" that allows users to keep the same number even if they switch to another company costs 3,000 yen. It has been pointed out as another factor hindering users' free choice, and it is said that the communications ministry will set a guideline for making such a service free in principle from next fiscal year.
The communications ministry plans to consider allowing users to use their e-mail addresses even if they change carriers. It also intends to simplify clerical procedures for changing contracts, which are considered complicated.
Although the communications ministry has taken measures to expedite switching carriers, such as setting a limit on penalties for cancellations during the contract period, few tangible results have been seen so far.
To ensure that the action plan will bring about results, the communications ministry should make mobile phone companies fully aware of the purpose of the action plan and carefully inform users of the plan.
-- The original Japanese article appeared in The Yomiuri Shimbun on Oct. 28, 2020.
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