Regulation and the Productivity Revolution in Japan’s Handset Market
The Progressive Policy Institute has long been focused on the interaction between regulation and innovation across the United States, Europe, and Asia. We are particularly concerned with the broad class of pricing of innovative products and services.
From this perspective, we note that the Japanese government, acting through the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) and the Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC), has required or encouraged mobile providers to reduce or eliminate their subsidies for consumer purchases of smartphone handsets. The government’s explicit goal is to persuade the providers to use the money saved from reduced subsidies to lower rates for long-term consumers.
