Why Japan’s Mobile Phone Prices Have Been Cut in Half

In Japan, there has been a lot of talk about Prime Minister Suga stepping down as Prime Minister for a period of time. It was a tough and stressful time to be Prime Minister in the midst of the COVID-19 disaster. But in fact, it was not only his policies regarding Corona that he enforced. One of his achievements was the dramatic decrease in the cost of cell phones, which had been very expensive.

Japan used to have the highest cell phone rates

In a comparison of five cities (Tokyo, Paris, New York, London, and Seoul), Japan and New York were tied for first place, with 20G costing about 8,000 yen, according to Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. The lowest price was about 2,300 yen for 20G in London. However, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) took action after the Suga administration, which took power in September 2020, lowered cell phone rates.

The big three companies had a monopoly

Softbank, NTT Docomo, and au were the three dominant mobile carriers in Japan. The prices were not that different, and the quality of the connection was only slightly different depending on the region, which was not relevant for people living in urban areas. Therefore, it was standard for people to use the same carrier as their family members in order to get a family discount.

However, with the policy of lowering cell phone rates, sub-brands have emerged. Sub-brands are brands of cell phones that offer much cheaper rates with plans based on a different concept from the three main carriers and cheap SIMs. This has given people a wider choice of cell phones, and many have switched to cheap SIMs. This has led to the emergence of sub-brands by the big three companies, and the price of cell phones has dropped dramatically.

Currently the second cheapest cell phone rate

As of March 2021, 20G will cost about 5,000 yen, making it the second cheapest country when compared again with the five cities of Tokyo, Paris, New York, London, and Seoul. Japan is becoming more and more electronic, and without cell phones, life as well as work would be quite inconvenient. Furthermore, with the decrease in income caused by COVID-19, the decrease in spending on cell phones is quite significant for the people.

It is a false rumor that Wi-Fi is less common

It is true that few Japanese people use Wi-Fi to use their cell phones. It used to be the usual case that there was no Wi-Fi outside the house, and many stores did not have Wi-Fi either. As a result, there are not many people who use Wi-Fi on trains. However, due to the Olympics, in Japan today, Wi-Fi is available throughout the city, and it is common to find Wi-Fi in all but the oldest stores.