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The mobile communication market

The mobile communications market in Japan is dominated by three major players: NTT Docomo, which is a subsidiary of NTT Corporation, KDDI Corporation, which operates the mobile carrier brand au, and SoftBank Corp., a subsidiary of SoftBank Group Corp. Although the number of mobile phone subscribers in Japan has been higher than the number of citizens since the early 2010s, it has continued to grow in recent years. A comparison of telecommunication subscriptions shows that Long-Term Evolution (LTE) subscriptions enjoy high popularity among Japanese consumers. In 2020, the three major mobile carriers ushered in the next generation of mobile communications by rolling out their 5G mobile networks. They were joined by Rakuten Mobile, Inc., which launched its own 5G mobile service in September of that year. The company had entered the market as an MVNO in 2014 and became the country’s fourth mobile network operator (MNO) in 2020.

The role of MVNOs

As the distribution of mobile phone subscribers by operator shows, MVNOs have steadily gained market shares in the past few years. MVNOs operate by leasing network capacity from regular MNOs. As they do not have to maintain the network infrastructure, they tend to target more specific customer groups by offering comparatively flexible data plans. The number of MVNO contracts more than tripled between 2016 and 2025. Accordingly, their total market share showed a strong increase as well. MVNOs in Japan include brands such as Biglobe Mobile, IIJmio, and Sakura Mobile. Some are part of regular MNOs, such as UQ Mobile (KDDI) and Y!mobile (SoftBank).