May 2, 2022 Status of Switching to New Rate Plans Offered by Mobile Phone Carriers

The number of subscribers to the new rate plans of mobile phone carriers reached approximately 37.1 million as of the end of March 2022.

In October 2020, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) formulated and announced an action plan^* that specifies the items that should be addressed to improve the fair competition environment in the mobile phone market. Since then, various measures have been taken based on the plan.

As a result of these measures, mainly since February 2021, mobile phone carriers have started offering new, lower-priced rate plans (hereafter referred to as the “new rate plans”), and their competition has become more intense.

Under these circumstances, users have been shifting to the new rate plans. The total number of subscriptions to the new rate plans offered by major mobile phone carriers reached approximately 37.1 million as of the end of March 2022.
This figure is equivalent to approximately a quarter of general users’ mobile phone subscriptions.

MIC will continue developing a fair, competitive environment in the mobile phone market so that mobile phone carriers’ competition will lead to lower prices and more diverse services.

• *
  The published material is in Japanese only.