KDDI to start 5G service from Thurs. with unlimited data offering

From Thursday, if customers combine a number of promotions, the price of unlimited data use can drop to as low as 3,460 yen a month for users of the "au" mobile phone service the company operates. Its rivals NTT Docomo Inc. and SoftBank Corp. said they will start 5G services from Wednesday and Friday, respectively. KDDI's 5G services will be available in 15 of Japan's 47 prefectures as of the end of March before expanding nationwide from the summer, the company said. It will install 10,000 base stations by the end of March 2021 and another 10,000 by the end of March 2022. "We made quite audacious price plans," said KDDI President Makoto Takahashi during a teleconference. "We hope 5G use will be boosted in areas such as entertainment, arts, sports and amusement." "We hope to win over 2 million users by the end of fiscal 2020," he said, adding the figure is expected to be slightly lower than the number of subscribers at the start of the current 4G services.