Tokyo

Japan's communications ministry on Tuesday proposed regulating zero-rating mobile phone services that allow subscribers to have unlimited free access to certain online content.

Under the proposal, the ministry will call on mobile phone carriers to implement access control to prevent the services from causing internet congestion and slowing the communications speed for nonsubscribers.

Carriers failing to comply will be slapped with business improvement orders under the telecommunications business law.

The ministry will urge mobile phone companies not to designate certain content to be covered by the zero-rating services without reasonable grounds or force content providers to shoulder excessive costs.

Mobile data traffic rose by over 30 pct in 2018 from the previous year amid the rapid spread of video and music streaming services for smartphones. In line with this trend, the number of zero-rating service subscribers has been increasing, mainly among young people.

Among major Japanese mobile phone carriers, Softbank Corp. and KDDI Corp. are offering zero-rating services for certain content.

Jiji Press