TOKYO -- Japanese mobile carrier KDDI and newcomer Rakuten Mobile have both signed on to a government initiative to ensure reliable network coverage nationwide within the next five years -- even in remote, depopulated areas.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications and local government authorities have been offering financial incentives to telecommunications providers to extend services to underserved populations, yet 16,000 people still live in cellular dead zones.
KDDI and Rakuten Mobile, a unit of the e-commerce platform Rakuten, have submitted plans to the communication ministry pledging to install enough 4G base stations to eliminate dead zones by the fiscal year ending March 2024.
However, both carriers would have to install base stations in tiny mountain villages, and similar locales where the financial returns are not expected to match the costs. According to plans submitted by KDDI and Rakuten Mobile, full-fledged installation projects will start no earlier than fiscal 2021.
Meanwhile, the communications ministry will encourage carriers to hasten installations by dangling more financial incentives. The ministry will request more funding to that end in the fiscal 2020 national budget. The expenditures will be covered by bandwidth fees paid by broadcasters and mobile carriers.
The government will offer generous subsidies if multiple carriers work together to install base stations in remote areas. The framework envisions KDDI and Rakuten Mobile being joined by the other major players NTT Docomo and SoftBank. That way, previously marginalized customers will have choices in mobile services.
With the commercial 5G era set to launch in Japan next spring, the four carriers have submitted plans to install a total of 70,000 base stations by fiscal 2024. Subsidies to cover underserved locations will become available in fiscal 2020, with the communications ministry aiming to boost that figure to 84,000 base stations.
The presence of speedy 5G networks is anticipated to serve the needs of low-population communities on various fronts. The service would support self-driving buses, telemedicine and smart factories, for example. "The degree to which an area is developed will pivot on the presence or lack of 5G," said Masatoshi Ishida, minister of internal affairs and communications.