KDDI and SoftBank of Japan Expand Joint Venture 5G Plan

KDDI and SoftBank Corp in Japan have outlined plans to expand the scope of their joint venture 5G plan, promising to build a total of 100000 base stations each and achieve a total cost savings of 120 billion yen (770 million US dollars).
This joint venture called 5G Japan was established in 2020 with the aim of enhancing Japan’s international competitiveness through infrastructure sharing and mutual utilization of the base station assets owned by the two companies.
Through this joint venture, these two companies have each built over 38000 5G base stations, achieving a capital expenditure cost reduction of 45 billion yen so far. So far, these measures have mainly focused on rural areas in Japan.

In order to continue working on this progress, they are now expanding the scope of cooperation. This will include the goal of jointly building 100000 base stations by fiscal year 2030 (as of March 31, 2031), as well as exploring unified specifications for 4G and 5G base station construction and joint procurement of equipment.
The two operators also stated that they plan to start various experiments and technical discussions in 2024, with the goal of “fully expanding the scope of cooperation from 2026”, although specific plans have not yet been disclosed.
“KDDI, SoftBank, and 5G Japan will continue to strengthen cooperation and promote measures to enhance Japan’s resilience and enhance its international competitiveness,” the press release stated.
KDDI and SoftBank are the second and third largest mobile operators in Japan, respectively, behind market leader NTT Docomo (based on mobile connectivity).