Softbank Mobile Corp, the latest player in Japan's cutthroat mobile phone sector, said yesterday it was questioned by the government on its promotional discounts which have triggered an avalanche of interest.
But Softbank Mobile, a unit of the Internet conglomerate, denied any legal wrongdoing on the offer, which was so popular it overloaded the system.
"It is true that our official in charge of the matter was questioned by the Fair Trade Commission, but we regard our new service as having no problem at this point," a spokeswoman for Softbank Mobile said.
Free?
She spoke after Japanese media said the government commission had questioned Softbank Mobile over its discount service announcing "zero yen for calls, zero yen for e-mails."
The Sankei Shimbun said, citing unnamed sources, that the Fair Trade Commission was concerned that the advertisement may have failed to state clearly that there were preconditions for free calls and e-mails.
Commission officials declined to comment.
Softbank, an empire built by Masayoshi Son, one of Japan's richest entrepreneurs, in April completed a mega-deal to buy British mobile giant Vodafone's struggling Japanese operations for US$15 billion.
Softbank declared a price war against industry leader NTT DoCoMo and second-ranked KDDI Corp last week as Japan introduced "number portability," which lets customers switch carriers without changing phone numbers.
Media campaign
Its "zero yen" campaign was matched by a flashy media campaign including TV advertisements featuring Cameron Diaz.
Softbank had to stop the portability service twice over the weekend because its computer system could not handle the massive number of applications for joining and leaving it.
The breakdown led to fierce criticism by NTT DoCoMo and KDDI, which said that some of the customers may have been trying to switch to them.
Son on Monday apologized for the technical glitch.
He also announced Softbank's latest campaign to win more users, cutting fees to make calls to users of other carriers.
NETWORK-MAPPING PROJECT: The database contains 170 detailed files of Taiwanese politicians and about 23 million records of household registration data in Taiwan China has developed a network-mapping project targeting political figures and parties in Taiwan to monitor public opinion during elections and to craft tailored influence campaigns aimed at dividing Taiwanese society, according to documents leaked by Chinese technology firm GoLaxy (中科天璣). The documents, collected by Taipei-based Doublethink Lab, showed a database was specifically created to gather detailed information on Taiwanese political figures, including their political affiliations, job histories, birthplaces, residences, education, religion and a brief biography about them. Several notable Taiwanese politicians are in the database, including President William Lai (賴清德), former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍),
RECOGNITION: Former Fijian prime minister Mahendra Chaudhry said that Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy serves as a stabilizing force in the Indo-Pacific region Taiwan can lead the unification of the Chinese people, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former Polish president Lech Walesa said in Taipei yesterday, adding that as the world order is changing, peaceful discussion would find good solutions, and that the use of force and coercion would always fail. Walesa made the remarks during his keynote address at a luncheon of the Yushan Forum in Taipei, titled “Indo-Pacific Partnership Prospects: Taiwan’s Values, Technology and Resilience,” organized by the Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Walesa said that he had been at the forefront of a big peaceful revolution and “if
UPGRADED MISSILE: The Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology is reportedly to conduct a live-fire test of the Hsiung Feng III anti-ship missile on Thursday next week The US Army is planning to build new facilities to boost explosives production and strengthen its supply chain, a move aimed at addressing munitions shortages and supporting obligations to partners including Taiwan, Ukraine and Israel, Defense News reported. The army has issued a sources sought notice for a proposed Center of Excellence at the Blue Grass Army Depot in Kentucky, the report said. The facility would serve as a hub within the US industrial base for the production of key military explosives, including research department explosives (RDX) and high melting explosives (HMX), while also supporting research and development of next-generation materials. The proposed
SOUTH KOREA DISPUTE: If Seoul continues to ignore its request, Taiwan would change South Korea’s designation on its arrival cards, the foreign ministry said If South Korea does not reply appropriately to a request to correct Taiwan’s name on its e-Arrival card system before March 31, the government would take corresponding measures to change how South Korea is labeled on the online Taiwan Arrival Card system, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday. South Korea’s e-Arrival card system lists Taiwan as “China (Taiwan)” in the “point of departure” and “next destination” fields. Taipei has asked Seoul to change the wording. Since March 1, South Koreans who hold government-issued Alien Resident Certificates (ARC) have been identified as from “South Korea” rather than the “Republic of Korea,” the
RSS