Carriers in Japan and Taiwan have become the first in Asia to say they will not sell Huawei Technologies' new smartphones in the wake of U.S. restrictions, with a South Korean peer saying it may follow suit. (Nikkei)

The communications ministry plans to create some 10 billion 14-digit phone numbers starting with “020” for assignment. (Japan Times)

The Diet enacted a legal revision Friday aimed at lowering mobile phone fees and spurring competition in the country's saturated telecom market. (Japan Today)

NTT Docomo Inc said Monday it will cut its mobile phone charges by up to 40 percent from June amid the government's call on telecom carriers to lower service fees. (Japan Today)

Japan's government on Wednesday approved plans by four mobile network operators to build superfast fifth-generation wireless networks, with investment set to total 1.6 trillion yen ($14.4 billion) over the next five years. (Nikkei)

SoftBank Group has set the stage for what is likely to be one of the largest initial public offerings ever, with its move to float mobile phone unit SoftBank Corp. But as Chairman and CEO Masayoshi Son completes the conglomerate's divergence into an investing holding company and a wireless provider, market watchers see significant risks on both fronts. (Nikkei)

SoftBank Group Corp. is seeking to raise ¥2.4 trillion in the initial public offering of its domestic telecommunications operations scheduled for Dec. 19. (Japan Times)

KDDI and Rakuten said Thursday they will share each other's assets while competing to offer services in their respective fields, as the telecom operator debuts e-commerce services and the online retailer enters the mobile space. (Nikkei)

Japan's top wireless carrier, NTT Docomo, will lower its service charge by 20% to 40% while giving subscribers more freedom on phones, including letting them bring unlocked and secondhand devices to its network. (Nikkei)

For years, electronics giants have been developing smartphones with increasingly larger screens. Bucking the trend for phones to be bigger and flashier is a handset set to debut next month from NTT Docomo Inc. that can fit in your business card case. (Japan Times)

Japanese airline ANA Holdings said Thursday it will enter the space exploration business by developing technologies to place robots in outer space and to operate them from Earth. (Nikkei)

Mobile carrier NTT Docomo Inc. said Thursday it plans to review its two-year smartphone contracts by next March, a day after rival KDDI Corp. pledged to change its contracts in response to government warnings. (Kyodo)

Japanese telecom giant NTT Docomo will invest in a firm that operates a taxi-service app. (NHK)

SoftBank Group has filed for the listing of its mobile service unit SoftBank Corp., in an apparent bid to raise about 2.5 trillion yen ($22.6 billion) from the stock debut. (Nikkei)

Japan's antitrust watchdog will soon conclude that four-year installment payment plans for smartphones offered by major phone carriers in the country is legally problematic, sources close to the matter said Friday. (Japan Today)

Amazon nearly doubled its share and Netflix grew strongly in Japan's streaming market last year as the two global services try to raise their profiles in Asia. (variety.com)

Rakuten applied for a cellular frequency band with Japan's communications ministry on Monday, aiming to launch service in 2019 as the country's fourth wireless carrier. (Nikkei)

Major Japanese mobile carrier NTT Docomo says its subscribers will be able to pay at stores using a QR code. (NHK)

NTT Docomo on Monday announced its Japan Welcome SIM TM series will introduce Plan 0 to allow overseas visitors in Japan to access the Internet for free via the Docomo mobile network, from Tuesday. The free service will initially be available in Hokkaido and Niigata prefectures, after which other areas will be added sequentially. (Japan Today)

NHK has learned that the US tech giant Google will start selling its smart speakers on the Japanese market starting in early October. (NHK)