Rakuten Inc. got the green light Friday from a government panel to become the nation¡¯s fourth major wireless carrier, granting the e-commerce giant access to a fierce competition for subscribers alongside industry heavyweights who have long dominated the cellular market.
An Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry advisory board approved Rakuten¡¯s application for a 4G mobile license, which the company had submitted in February. The decision is expected to be formally endorsed by the ministry at a later date, marking the first time a new entrant has been approved since eAccess ¡ª now a part of SoftBank Group Corp. ¡ª was granted bandwidth 13 years ago.
The move threatens to disrupt Japan¡¯s mobile phone market oligopoly of NTT Docomo Inc., KDDI Corp. and SoftBank Corp., the last of the three being the domestic arm of tech mogul Masayoshi Son¡¯s global telecommunications and internet empire.
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