Companies

KDDI mobile disrupted throughout Japan

Reuters file photo
A logo of the “au,” a mobile cellular services brand provided by KDDI Corp.

Jiji Press

15:49 JST, July 2, 2022

TOKYO (Jiji Press) — KDDI Corp.’s mobile phone and data communications services are disrupted across Japan on Saturday, the major Japanese telecommunications carrier said.

The problem started at around 1:35 a.m., and when it can be resolved remains uncertain, according to the company.

The disruption is affecting not only KDDI’s “au”-, “UQ”- and “povo”-brand mobile services but also services of Rakuten Mobile Inc. and low-cost carriers using KDDI’s network.

“We deeply apologize for causing much inconvenience,” KDDI said in a statement.

KDDI has about 62 million contracts for its services, around 31 million of which are with individual subscribers to the mobile services under the three brands.

Among businesses affected by the KDDI problem, Yamato Transport Co. is unable to update parcel delivery status on its website while its delivery-truck and call center operations are disrupted.

According to Japan Airlines, KDDI transceivers for its staff at Narita Airport in Chiba Prefecture, and Haneda Airport have become unavailable, but there have been no implications for its flight operations as devices using a different company’s network are used instead.

Ogaki Kyoritsu Bank , based in Gifu Prefecture, said some of its automated teller machines are unavailable.

Meanwhile, the Japan Meteorological Agency is experiencing some difficulties in transmitting data of its Automated Meteorological Data Acquisition System.

The KDDI disruption came after rival carrier NTT Docomo Inc. caused a large-scale disruption in its phone and data communications services in October last year,leaving around one million users unable to use the services for two hours and 20 minutes.

Over the incident, which affected a total of some 12.9 million people, including those who experienced inconvenience from mobile traffic congestion, NTT Docomo was slapped with an administrative guidance by the communications ministry.

At the time, other service providers including KDDI also conducted emergency inspections to prevent disruptions.

Under Japan’s telecommunications business law, any disruption making it unable to make emergency calls for at least an hour and affecting more than 30,000 people are required to be reported as a “serious incident” to the ministry.