Rakuten Unveils Aggressive Mobile Pricing in Japan
- The fourth carrier arrives with 4G on April 8, 5G in summer
- It already has millions of users for its services and apps
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The delayed launch of Rakuten Inc.’s mobile network in Japan was made official on Tuesday in Tokyo, with the online retail giant announcing price plans far below those of the incumbent leaders.
Originally planned to begin operations in October, Rakuten pushed back its network rollout to April 8, using the interim to run trials with a limited group of users. The company’s sales pitch to mobile subscribers will be price: a single plan offering unlimited monthly data will cost 2,980 yen (about $28), less than half the comparable tariffs from rivals SoftBank Corp., KDDI Corp. and NTT Docomo Inc.