News
Japanese MVNO Secrets to be Revealed
(19 May 2008, BWCS Staff)The telecoms ministry in Japan has said it will urge mobile companies to reveal the terms of the deals they have struck with mobile virtual network operators, in a bid to increase competition and boost the number of MVNOs coming into the market. The high costs of building sufficient base stations have so far put off many possible competitors from entering the Japanese mobile market, the ministry argued.
The government will now seek to publish information on the deals struck by the major carriers: NTT DoCoMo, KDDI and Softbank with companies such as Walt Disney, eMobile (owned by eAccess Ltd) Willcom Inc and UQ Communications. The ministry hopes that by uncovering prices and other details of leasing arrangements, it will make it easier for other new companies to negotiate leasing terms thereby encouraging new entrants.
Some analysts believe that while the move will not necessarily entice new voice operators to enter the market, it may well offer encouragement to Internet service providers looking to launch mobile data services which offer high-speed Internet access for mobile devices.
The mobile data market in Japan is widely viewed as being far from fully exploited.
It remains to be seen if the move will be enough to encourage foreign telcos to enter the near-saturated Japanese mobile market, where the number of mobile subscribers has reached 107 million, or about 85% of the country's population.
Back