Discussions on the introduction of an auction method, which allocate a higher amount to companies that offer a higher amount of frequency for mobile phones, is hot.While NTT DoCoMo agrees, Rakuten Mobile, who has just entered mobile communications, has rebounded violently due to financial concerns.If you unravel the opinions of each company, the conventional judging method is revealed.The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications needs to be aware of the formation of a healthy competitive environment and to organize the advantages and issues of auctions.(Editorial committee member Hirokazu Saito)
"We are a small, later business operator. We are working hard to promote competition, but it is impossible to have the same playing field as those who have a completely different scale. At the stage where the discussion is not fully discussed, the auction method.I strongly oppose. "Yoshihisa Yamada, President of Rakuten Mobile, who was on stage at the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications' meeting on November 30, 2021, "New mobile phone frequency assignment method (3rd)".I focused on the logic that it was.
In the radio auction, the winning bid has risen, and there is a concern that the funds that should be used for the business will be spent in the auction.In this regard, domestic telecommunications carriers were reluctant to introduce them.However, in the second part of the study meeting, DOCOMO expressed positive opinions.KDDI was substantially accepted.
Rakuten Mobile, which has just entered the mobile phone communication business in April 2010, has not become a profitable business, and it is true that it is greatly inferior to three major companies, docomo, KDDI, and Softbank, even on the size of the subscriber.is.On the other hand, Rakuten Group's chairman Hiroshi Mikitani and President and President have repeatedly made bullish remarks.For example, "We have more than 100 million members in Japan (such as e -commerce, etc.). There is no problem with the power of the Internet (mobile communication)."
However, Mr. Mikitani is enthusiastic about docomo's trends.On a simple posting site "Twitter", "Radio Auctions are" foolish "that will eventually hinder mobile price competition just by reviving the oligopolization of companies that are making excessive profit.。Following this, Rakuten Mobile President Yamada broke down at an expert meeting.
"The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications is now trying to achieve various policies through frequency allocation, but such means will be lost."The conventional comparative examination method shows evaluation criteria, such as the size of the communication area and the number of base stations.However, the government's discretion that determines the evaluation items has been large, and it has been considered that there is a problem with transparency.It can be interpreted that President Yamada shakes the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications as to whether to abandon the discretionary right.
In the telecommunications industry, there is a view that Rakuten Mobile has benefited from the discretionary administration.In the assignment of frequency for the 5th generation communication (5g) held in the spring of 2011, the review items include the status of "ESIM introduction" and "SIM unlock", etc.Mobile was assigned.
ESIM is a technology that remotely write subscriber identification information necessary for using communication services to smartphones.It may lead to a speed of contract procedures.The SIM lock has been regarded as a factor that prevent consumers from switching to telecommunications companies, as a mobile telecommunications carrier cannot use terminals sold by their own in -house on other companies.The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications emphasizes consumer telecommunications companies in the viewpoint of promoting market competition.That is also reflected in the examination items.
A company official who was lost in this screening said, "I think it was an advantageous standard for Rakuten Mobile, but if I did not raise my hand and thought," Do you need radio waves anymore? "He said he was fighting for the time being, and said he had imagined it wasn't his own turn.If businesses with low prospects are forced to apply for only forms, they will not be productive at all.
However, even if an auction is introduced in the future, Rakuten Mobile does not necessarily fall into a difficult situation.Discussions are being deepened, which are pointed out as disadvantages, and measures to respond to situations where frequencies are concentrated on specific businesses.
For example, an example of implementation in other countries was introduced for "frequency caps" that set the upper limit to the acquisition frequency."For small businesses, it is possible to reduce the economic burden by applying discounts on the winning bid" (Rumi Iizuka Senior Research Director of the Multimedia Promotion Center).Takashi Sano, an associate professor of the International Social Science Institute of International Social Sciences, Yokohama National University, says, "The disadvantages of auction introduction can be solved by various institutional designs."
In the industrial policy, it is necessary to make an effort to maintain a healthy competitive environment by taking certain consideration to new entrants.On the other hand, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications was discovered in 2009 that executives had been entertained by the NTT Group and Tohoku Shinsha, and the transparency of policy was more than ever.In the “Study Group on Newlying Frequency for mobile phones,” the report will be compiled around the summer of 2010.For this, it is noted that we can design and propose a balanced system.
Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun January 4, 2022
