Three mobile phone companies relax restrictions on sales agents, such as smartphone wholesale prices, in response to comments from the Fair Trade Commission
On October 13th, NTT DOCOMO, KDDI, and Softbank's three MNOs received a fact-finding survey announced by the Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) in June, and conducted transactions with sales agents and terminal purchase assistance services. announced that it has reviewed the provision of In addition to allowing distributors to freely set prices for smartphone sales, we will clearly state in catalogs and advertisements that even non-users of each company are eligible for device purchase subsidies.
Details of KDDI's reviewRestrictions on pricing and handling of accessories for distributors
In the aforementioned survey, the FTC found that the three MNOs set wholesale prices for distributors , and many distributors cannot sell at a price lower than the official MNO online price, and pointed out that ``this may be a problem under the Antimonopoly Act.'' It was reported that there is a problem such as "handling of original products including products is not permitted".
In response, the three companies plan to implement the following improvement measures.
KDDI and Softbank have also revised the evaluation criteria for the number of communication plans sold. KDDI will remove the indicator related to the number of large-capacity plans sold.
Terminal purchase assistance service Clearly states that it can be used without a line contract For this reason, we provide a terminal purchase assistance service that applies a discount when selling a single terminal on the condition that the terminal is returned after use.
The Fair Trade Commission commented on this measure, ``It was difficult to understand that 87.1% of consumers were unaware that they could receive services without a line contract.'' ``In the case of KDDI and Softbank, people cannot receive services online.”
The three companies have improved the display method, such as clearly indicating that users who have not signed up for the line can also use it near the service logo, and the user can receive the remaining debt exemption even after canceling the line. You will be informed of this in your application form or by email.
Improved DoCoMo displayKDDI has changed the system so that even non-line subscribers can subscribe to the device purchase assistance service online. Softbank also plans to support it in the future.
As a condition for using the device purchase assistance service, both companies required that the device be returned and the model changed, but KDDI began offering a "smartphone toku program" that does not require a model change, and Softbank also offers discounts. Removed the specification that "model change is required" from the conditions.
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