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▼ SoftBank, KDDI Hitting Back at Low-cost Smartphone Firms
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TOKYO (Jiji Press) — Major mobile phone carriers SoftBank Group Corp. and KDDI Corp. are hitting back at low-cost smartphone service providers by offering competitive rates under their group brands.
Newcomers to the rapidly expanding low-cost smartphone service market include retail giant Aeon Co. and online retailer Rakuten Inc. The low-cost providers offer their services by using networks leased from major mobile carriers.
According to MM Research Institute Ltd., a Tokyo-based marketing research company, the number of subscribers to low-cost smartphone services as of the end of fiscal 2015 stood at 5.39 million, 1.6 times the year-before level.
The average monthly charge for such subscribers stood at some ¥2,000, less than half the fees paid by smartphone subscribers to conventional major mobile phone carriers.
Low-cost smartphone subscribers are expected to jump further to 8.2 million by the end of March 2017, when the current fiscal year finishes.
SoftBank and KDDI offer special discounts under their respective Y!mobile and UQ mobile low-cost smartphone service brands to new subscribers who have quit rival carriers.
Both carriers offer ¥1,980 per month, down from their regular charge of ¥2,980, with double the data traffic, for one year from the conclusion of subscription contracts.
By selling Apple Inc.’s iPhone 5s smartphone effectively for far less than ¥20,000 with a two-year contract, the two carriers aim to differentiate themselves from their low-cost rivals that do not offer iPhone smartphones.
“Quite a few people will change carriers to get the iPhone 5s,” said an official of Internet Initiative Japan Inc., a low-cost smartphone service provider.
Alarmed at the fast growth of low-priced rivals, NTT Docomo Inc., the largest domestic mobile carrier, is set to launch this winter feature phones compatible with the Long Term Evolution, or LTE, high-speed mobile communications standard at lower prices.
Newcomers to the rapidly expanding low-cost smartphone service market include retail giant Aeon Co. and online retailer Rakuten Inc. The low-cost providers offer their services by using networks leased from major mobile carriers.
According to MM Research Institute Ltd., a Tokyo-based marketing research company, the number of subscribers to low-cost smartphone services as of the end of fiscal 2015 stood at 5.39 million, 1.6 times the year-before level.
The average monthly charge for such subscribers stood at some ¥2,000, less than half the fees paid by smartphone subscribers to conventional major mobile phone carriers.
Low-cost smartphone subscribers are expected to jump further to 8.2 million by the end of March 2017, when the current fiscal year finishes.
SoftBank and KDDI offer special discounts under their respective Y!mobile and UQ mobile low-cost smartphone service brands to new subscribers who have quit rival carriers.
Both carriers offer ¥1,980 per month, down from their regular charge of ¥2,980, with double the data traffic, for one year from the conclusion of subscription contracts.
By selling Apple Inc.’s iPhone 5s smartphone effectively for far less than ¥20,000 with a two-year contract, the two carriers aim to differentiate themselves from their low-cost rivals that do not offer iPhone smartphones.
“Quite a few people will change carriers to get the iPhone 5s,” said an official of Internet Initiative Japan Inc., a low-cost smartphone service provider.
Alarmed at the fast growth of low-priced rivals, NTT Docomo Inc., the largest domestic mobile carrier, is set to launch this winter feature phones compatible with the Long Term Evolution, or LTE, high-speed mobile communications standard at lower prices.
- August 19, 2016
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