Japan watchdog says Apple may have breached antitrust laws

TOKYO: Japanese regulators said yesterday Apple Inc may have breached antitrust rules by forcing mobile service providers to sell its iPhones cheaply and charge higher monthly fees, denying consumers a fair choice.

The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) said the Japanese unit of Apple had forced NTT Docomo Inc, KDDI Corp and SoftBank Group Corp to offer subsidies and sell iPhones at a discount.

“Obliging carriers to offer subsidies (for iPhones) could have prevented the carriers from offering lower monthly charges and restricted competition,” it said.

The FTC, which began looking into Apple’s sales practices in 2016, said it did not punish Apple as the US firm agreed to revise its contracts with the carriers.

Apple representatives in Japan were not immediately available for comment. – Reuters