Japan to Lift Restrictions on SIM Card Use in Mobile Phones
April 11, 2010
Japan's Internal Affairs and Communications
Ministry and four major mobile phone operators have reached a basic agreement
to do away with the current restrictions on mobile phone by allowing users to
use SIM cards provided by different service operators in their mobile phones,
according to an April 3 Kyodo News report. At present, mobile phones in Japan
are developed specifically and exclusively for a particular operator. As a
result, users are not able to switch to different service operators while
retaining the use of their phones. The ministry will hold talks with the four
operators - NTT Docomo, KDDI, which operates under the brand name of au, SoftBank
Mobile, and Emobile - for the new arrangement. The ministry is expected to
formulate related guidelines in the following months, with implementation
scheduled by the year-end.