Softbank's annual profit drops 27% on Sprint woes

He pointed to the success he has had with the mobile business in Japan

But the world is not Japan, where consumers are locked into many years contracts with hefty penalty, sloppy laws that allow a carrier to advertise a 0 yen device that you pay monthly, price fixing and locked phone... btw, things are changing also in Japan..now we can have simcard we pay monthly and that we can cancel anytime, with no penalty, I am not sure who wants to get a new contract with one of those big 3 directly.

Reliability, ha! So many times have I tried to access softbank's wifi spots with almost full wifi bars only get constant drops or just not even connect at all.

Expect a bigger profit drop as many people are ditching their softbank contracts for cheaper simfree plans.

He pointed to the success he has had with the mobile business in Japan

A success which was only possible due to the dubious business practices allowed by the J government. Locking phones to a network, 2 year contracts, refusal to unlock phones etc.

Now that these shady policies can be avoided as the J gov finally insisted Japan's telecoms companies enter the twentieth century, let's see how Softbank et al manage with the very recent appearance of MVNOs.

T-Mobile is pure garbage. Verizon or AT&T are the most reliable in the US but they we be bought out by foreign companies.

I've been with all Big Three providers - some twice - and can safely say that Softbank is both the worst in service reliability AND customer service. Make no mistake - the only reason they're still around is because of the iPhone.

Stay with SoftBank get an iPhone 6+ and pay ¥11,000, or switch to AU get the same but pay half. Hmmm.....

Stay with SoftBank get an iPhone 6+ and pay ¥11,000, or switch to AU get the same but pay half. Hmmm.....

This doesn't seem to be what is impacting Softbank's profits - their woes are in the US market.

Stay with SoftBank get an iPhone 6+ and pay ¥11,000, or switch to AU get the same but pay half. Hmmm.....

Rather get you iphone from apple store, it will be simlock free, you will be able to use it erywhere (not like the one from AU) and then look for MVNO, there are good offering right now.

Softbank reminds me of NOVA. Beware of companies that spend alot on commercials as somebody has to be fleeced.

Should have purchased T-Mobile, or taken an institutional position in AT&T or Verizon.

Sooner or later all these giant conglomerates own so many unrelated businesses that a boost in one is always offset in a loss in another. There's only so much growth that can be achieved by acquiring companies. When the United States broke up the Standard Oil trust, all the separate pieces of the company boomed. These companies are too big for their own good.

Should have purchased T-Mobile, or taken an institutional position in AT&T or Verizon.

From what I heard, Son wanted to also purchase T-Mobile, but they refused, not exactly sure about the details, but HE (Son) did have the company in his sights, I too, think it would have been a better move, but Sprint is a horrible carrier to begin with, you have to be desperate and delusional to join them. There coverage is crap, pure crap.