Internet giant Yahoo Japan is all set to purchase mobile network operator eAccess from the wireless carrier SoftBank Corp for 324 billion yen, in an attempt to launch its own mobile internet service. SoftBank Corp is Japan’s third biggest wireless carrier. Yahoo Japan is the country’s biggest Internet portal and 42.6 percent is owned by SoftBank on March 27, 2014.
The company said that its new Y! Mobile service will be aimed at more than 20 million users and will use a simple pricing structure in order to attract new customers. Yahoo has scheduled the purchase for June 2, 2014 and will follow eAccess planned merger with Willcom, the wireless provider which is another SoftBank subsidiary.
At present, the two companies have 10 million users altogether. The Yahoo Japan president, Manabu Miyasaka said that the company wishes to have a control of its network, as opposed to using the network of SoftBank or other provider. Miyasaka in a news conference said, “We want 10 million (additional users), and we won’t reach that unless we have control over our own handsets, service plans and sales channels, so we’re launching this as a standard mobile operator”.
SoftBank launched Apple Inc’s iPhone in Japan in 2013 and acquired No. 3 US mobile carrier Sprint Corp.
Photo Credits: Bloomberg
