September 18, 2020 Announcement of Status of Telecommunications Numbers in Use (FY2019)

The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) has summarized the status of telecommunications numbers in use as of the end of fiscal 2019 based on reports from telecommunications carriers under Article 11 of the Rules for Reporting on Telecommunications Business (Ministerial Ordinance of MPT No. 46 of 1988).

Note 1: The status of telecommunications numbers in use refers to the actual allocation of numbers to subscribers from those designated by MIC for telecommunications carriers.

Note 2: Number portability started between mobile phones and Personal Handy-phone System (PHS) phones in October 2014 October. Therefore, the total sum of mobile phone and PHS phone numbers are announced.

1. Number of main telecommunications numbers in use

As of the end of fiscal 2019 (March 31, 2020)

• “0AB-J” numbers for fixed telephones: Approximately 58.87 million numbers (down about 1.13 million from the previous year)
• “050” numbers for IP telephony: Approximately 8.92 million numbers (down about 0.08 million from the previous year)
• “070/080/090” numbers for mobile phones and PHS phones: Approximately 176.54 million numbers (up about 0.58 million from the previous year)

Fiscal 2019 (April 1, 2019, to March 31, 2020)

• Telecommunications mobile phone and PHS phone numbers transferred between carriers: Approximately 433 million numbers

2. Main points

• “0AB-J” numbers for fixed telephones: Decreased by approximately 1.13 million (down about 1.9%) from the end of fiscal 2018 to the end of fiscal 2019 and continues to decline.
• “050” numbers for IP telephony: Decreased by approximately 0.08 million (down about 0.9%) from the end of 2018 to the end of fiscal 2019, and the increment rate has been declining year by year at the time of the previous report, and it has started to decrease since fiscal 2019.
• “070/080/090” numbers for mobile phones and PHS phones: Decreased by approximately 0.59 million (down about 0.3%) from the end of 2018 to the end of fiscal 2019, and the increment rate has been declining year by year at the time of the previous report, and it has started to decrease since fiscal 2019.
• Since October 2017, “020” numbers for M2M services have been newly available, and approximately 22.15 million numbers were in use as of the end of fiscal 2019.