TOKYO, Dec. 14 (Xinhua) -- Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten Inc. announced Thursday its intention to enter into the mobile network operator business, a move expected to break the current three-giant oligopoly in the Japanese mobile service market.
Rakuten said in a press release that it will apply to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications for frequency band allocation for the fourth generation mobile communications system (4G), and if approved, will launch this new business in 2019.
The company plans to raise the estimated 600 billion yen (5.3 billion U.S. dollars) funding required for the business by 2025 through interest-bearing debt, said Rakuten.
The e-commerce giant said it plans to acquire at least 15 million subscribers for the new business by providing benefits through its online shopping site.
The move would make Rakuten Japan's fourth largest mobile network service supplier, following NTT Docomo Inc., KDDI Corp. and SoftBank Group Corp.. Together the three companies hold about 90 percent of Japan's mobile phone users.
