Under new rules, NTT DoCoMo, KDDI and Softbank will be required to open up their networks to MVNOs that ask to lease bandwidth. In a saturated mobile market like Japan, it doesn't seem like that move will have much impact on the market. Vodafone, which sold its mobile operations to Softbank earlier this year, pulled out of the market because it was floundering in the intense competition. What's more, Softbankcare, Access and dataIPMobile won their own licenses last November.
To read more about Japan's move to open the market to MVNOs:
- read this article from BusinessWeek Online