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Japan Aims to Lower Mobile Connection Costs
(08 Jan 2009, BWCS Staff)The Japanese government is reportedly trying to lower mobile connection fees by as early as 2010. According to a story in the Asahi newspaper, the administration is exploring new guidelines which it hopes will force mobile prices down in Japan. The newspaper points out that Japanese law does not, as yet, specify a pricing model for the connection charges that carriers pay to each other. Sometimes the fees can be as high as Yen35 (US$0.38) a minute. The government believes that this is a major reason behind the high price of mobile calls.
The Asahi newspaper said connection fees for mobile phones are more than seven times those of fixed-line phones and that the ministry plans to set up a standard pricing model and ask mobile phone operators to follow it. The Japanese government plans to gather opinions on how to improve the country's mobile phone system, however, it has not yet categorically said that it will be able to reduce connection fees.
Competition in the Japanese mobile market has intensified since Softbank cut its call prices and monthly charges in late 2007. KDDI Corp, countered with a package that doesn't charge for calls between family members. In February 2008, KDDI founder, Sachio Semmoto, announced his plans to launch a new MVNO called Emobile. The new service provider features no monthly subscription charges and was the first new entrant to the already saturated Japanese mobile market for many years. Emobile, which actually launched at the end of March 2008, offers users unlimited calling packages for Yen980 a month - matching offers from rival Softbank.
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