KDDI Says Data Stalls Fall About 30% in Congested Areas After Rakuten Roaming Cuts
KDDI held its second-quarter briefing for the fiscal year ending March 2027, and President and CEO Hiroji Matsuda said ending roaming provision to Rakuten Mobile in urban areas from October is improving network quality.
1 source 11h ago
Reporting from 1 source: ASCII.jp.
Why it matters
KDDI is now counting the end of urban Rakuten Mobile roaming as both a network fix and a revenue gain, which puts a number on what the arrangement cost au users in congested areas.
Key Facts
- KDDI held a second-quarter financial results briefing for the fiscal year ending March 2027.
- KDDI ended roaming provision to Rakuten Mobile in many urban areas from October.
- KDDI said the data-stall rate in congested areas fell by about 30%, citing parts of Yokohama City and Fukuoka City.
- KDDI will continue roaming provision to Rakuten Mobile in sparsely populated rural areas.
- KDDI expects about 10 billion yen more revenue in the second half of fiscal 2026 than initially planned.
KDDI cited congested areas including parts of Yokohama City and Fukuoka City, where the data-stall rate fell by about 30%. Roaming continues in rural areas, and KDDI expects about 10 billion yen more revenue in the second half of fiscal 2026 than planned.
KDDI had described the urban roaming traffic as coming in "unexpected volume from unexpected locations," and said congested areas in particular affected au users. From October the inflowing traffic dropped, and the company put the data-stall improvement at about 30% in places like parts of Yokohama City and Fukuoka City.
The arrangement is not over everywhere. Roaming continues in sparsely populated rural areas on the premise of the period until Rakuten Mobile builds its own network, and that remaining traffic is why KDDI now expects about 10 billion yen more revenue in the second half of fiscal 2026 than it initially planned.
Written with AI by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited. See our editorial policy.
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