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On May 10, 2011, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) issued guidance to Softbank Mobile Corporation concerning inappropriate representation in advertisements of its fixed-rate two-step packet plan for iPhone, so that it investigates the causes and carries out suitable representation in future.
1. Background
(1) Mobile telephone services have become core services in people's lives. Article 1 of the Telecommunications Business Law (Act No. 86 of 1984 Law) aims to protect consumer interests by ensuring that mobile telephone businesses endeavor to represent their services in advertisements that clearly convey details to consumers and enable consumers to select appropriate services.
(2) In addition, in March 2004 the Telecommunications Service Improvement Promotion Conference decided on autonomous industry rules entitled “Autonomous Standards and Guidelines for Representation in Telecommunications Service Advertisements,” based on discussions at the Telecommunications Consumer Support Liaison Group organized by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC), through which initiatives are progressing to ensure that telecommunications carriers make suitable representation in their advertisemens.
(3) However, representation in advertisements of the so-called fixed-rate two-step packet plan for iPhone* has been deemed inappropriate (refer to enclosed document) due to the fact that if the iPhone handset's 3G communication feature is switched ON, automatic communications that are unrecognized by users cause packet transfer communication fees to exceed the lower limit amount of the fixed-rate two-step packet plan for iPhone, and this in turn may cause users to be mistaken and could damage consumer interests.
*This plan establishes lower and upper limits for packet transfer communication fees, and the user is billed for the volume of packet transfer communication used between the lower and upper limits.
2. Details of measures, etc.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) has issued guidance to Softbank Mobile Corporation for it to investigate the causes of packet transfer communication fees exceeding the lower limit amount of the fixed-rate two-step packet plan for iPhone due to automatic communications that are unrecognized by users, as well as the causes of inappropriate representation in advertisements of this plan. The MIC has also ordered measures for improvement to be taken promptly, including adjustment of representation in advertisements and the issuance of reports concerning these matters.
In addition, the Telecommunications Carriers Association (an industry group of telecommunications carriers) has been requested to make its member businesses aware of the need for suitable representation when advertising packet transfer communication fees for mobile telephones including smart phones, while the Telecommunications Service Improvement Promotion Conference has been requested to confirm the status of the application of guidelines for representation in advertisements of mobile telephones including smart phones, as well as to implement initiatives to ensure suitable representation in advertisements.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) intends to continue protecting the interests of telecommunications service consumers.
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For further information about this press release, please fill in the inquiry form and submit it to MIC on the website
http://www.soumu.go.jp/joho_tsusin/eng/contact.html
International Policy Division,
Global ICT Strategy Bureau, MIC
TEL: +81 3 5253 5374 / FAX: +81 3 5253 5924 |
