Pricing plans do not take into consideration the needs of various users who only get to choose from pre-set pricing plans and the offerings of the top three carriers are the same.

Is it possible for a user here to: 1. buy an unlocked phone that they personally own; 2. buy a SIM card; 3. buy minutes? If not, why not? Are users pretty much limited to choosing one of the oligopolies and their byzantine ‘schemes’ that might be understood by one of their salespeople? Are there alternatives to the greedy 3, or have the ministries made them the only options?

It is an example of price fixing by the top three carriers. Were these companies in America or Europe, their executives would be charged as criminals. Price fixing is illegal in Japan too, but as you can see, it is officially overlooked. Mr Suga has put his foot in his mouth, he will not now be able to get an amakudari executive job with any of these companies when he leaves office...

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, saying the pricing schemes used in mobile phone services lack transparency and fairness, with bills taking up an increasing share of household budgets.

Did Suga forget that the Japanese government still owns roughly one-third of NTT? Reminds me of the old saying: "We have seen the enemy, and it is us." LOL.

If you actually shop smart you can reduce the cost. I am a subscriber of au smart phone but only pay an average of 2,000 yen. I have a sim free mobile router that can connect with LTE and have another subscription with the cheap NTT Communication plans costing only 1,000 yen so my total monthly mobile usage fee is around 3,000 yen including phone. That's probably 1000 yen less then if you subscribe only to au with LTE.

PTownsend, yes it is possible to do all those things. If you live in the city MVNO SIM providers are available at most large electronics stores, otherwise you need to order them online. Monthly prices are typically 1/4 to 1/3rd of the big three, but you need to buy the phone outright.

Problem is, most people do not know about these MVNOs (like yourself), and they are seen as a hassle or only for geeks etc.

When the big three forced unlimited minutes and reduced data quotas (for much higher than previous plans), earlier this year i immediately cried foul, but it seems there is no direct law preventing price fixing? Or something along those lines allowed all three to all match their prices/plans exactly the same. But every Japanese person i spoke to seemed entirely apathetic to it. Good to see others are realising how much of a rort it is.

Problem is, most people do not know about these MVNOs (like yourself), and they are seen as a hassle or only for geeks etc.

If people are serious enough about their money, they'll learn how to set one up and find out that it isn't that difficult. This is exactly the attitude that the big carriers ( and any other large J company for that matter ) rely on, "Oh, but it's so muzukashii." Provided you buy a sim free phone from the apple store directly, it's just a matter of inserting the sim yourself and then following the rather easy instructions provided by the MVNO.

I thought with increased competition like when AU got contracted to sell the iPhone and therefore battle head to head with SoftBank, we would see drastic drops in contract prices. I was totally wrong. Plans went up.

I quit using a phone. Never looked back. There are enough green phones still around to drop coins in.

Not just the preset plan thing, but the iPhone-specific plans they've rolled out are a joke. Not to mention the "options" that are actually opt-out with a minimum two-month commitment. I've been with all three, and they're all as bad as each other.

most people do not know about these MVNOs

Guilty as charged. Guys, I know we're very tolerant of mystery acronyms here, lest we reveal an inability (like everyone else!) to read the air, so I checked the meaning:

A mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), or mobile other licensed operator (MOLO), is a wireless communications services provider that does not own the wireless network infrastructure over which the MVNO provides services to its customers. An MVNO enters into a business agreement with a mobile network operator to obtain bulk access to network services at wholesale rates, then sets retail prices independently.[1] An MVNO may use its own customer service, billing support systems, marketing, and sales personnel, or it could employ the services of a mobile virtual network enabler (MVNE)