Japan to Oblige 3 Major Mobile Carriers to Unlock Used Smartphones

August 17, 2018

Tokyo- The Japanese communications ministry plans to oblige the country's three major mobile phone operators to unlock used smartphones so that users of such handsets can choose carriers freely, informed sources said Thursday.

Specifically, NTT Docomo Inc., KDDI Corp. and Softbank Group Corp. will be required to remove subscriber identity module, or SIM, locks, designed to prevent smartphones purchased from one carrier from being used on networks of others.

By increasing the number of secondhand handsets that can operate on low-cost networks, the ministry aims to help smartphone users cut their costs and to promote industry competition, the sources said.

From July next year, users of secondhand smartphones will likely be able to sign subscription contracts with any carrier, the sources said.

Currently, the three carriers together have some 90 pct of domestic smartphone contracts.

While the companies have used SIM locks as a tool to prevent customers from changing carriers, the ministry began to oblige them to accept customers' requests for removing SIM locks for all new smartphone models launched in May 2015 and later.

The three carriers now meet such requests a certain period after purchase. But they do not remove SIM locks for used smartphones, which may include stolen handsets.

According to the MM Research Institute, the number of used smartphones sold in Japan in fiscal 2017 totaled 1.79 million units, far smaller than 32 million units for new handsets. Jiji Press