Line Mobile (known as Finn Mobile in Thailand; stylised in

all caps In typography, text or font in all caps (short for "all capitals") contains capital letters without any lowercase letters. For example: All-caps text can be seen in legal documents, advertisements, newspaper headlines, and the titles on book co ...

) is a

mobile virtual network operator A mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) is a wireless communications services provider that does not own the wireless network infrastructure over which it provides services to its customers. An MVNO enters into a business agreement with a mobil ...

(MVNO) which operates in Japan, Thailand, and Taiwan under partnerships with

Line Corporation was a Japanese internet company. It was a subsidiary of Z Holdings, a joint venture between SoftBank Group and Naver Corporation. It was established in 2000 as the Japanese subsidiary of South Korean NHN Corporation's online game community si ...

History

Line Mobile was launched in Japan in September 2016 by LINE MOBILE Corporation, a subsidiary of Line Corporation. It initially operated on the NTT DoCoMo network. In Japan, Line Mobile offers plans including free access to LINE application and social network services. In January 2018, it was announced that LINE Corporation and

SoftBank Corp is a Japanese multinational Investment company, investment holding company headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, that focuses on investment management. The group primarily invests in companies operating in technology that offer goods and services ...

had signed a partnership for Line Mobile. As a result, SoftBank would hold a 51% stake in Line Mobile Corporation. Line Mobile began using the SoftBank network in Japan in July 2018.

International operations

Thailand

Line Mobile operates in Thailand as a sub-licensing brand on the traditional mobile operator dtac, as its agreement with Line Mobile Thailand is limited to brand licensing. The setup, which is similar to Virgin Mobile's MVNO licensing setup was challenged by telecom consultants, and the network operators, Advanced Info Service and TrueMove, for setting up a MVNO, without a MVNO license, to avoid paying regulatory fees. The

National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC, ), served by its operating body the Office of the NBTC, is an independent regulatory agency of Thailand. It is responsible for overseeing the country's broadcast and telecommunic ...

(NBTC), decided Line Mobile would not have to apply for a license under the mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) scheme, despite being classified as a MVNO in Japan and Taiwan. However, in its resolution, the NBTC board will keep monitoring Line Mobile and ordered it to amend its online registration system as it violates existing regulations, which require registration to be done at a service point in person with an ID card. The NBTC also ordered Line Mobile to improve awareness of the product's features and ownership to its customers, many of whom may lack of essential information about the service, said NBTC secretary-general Takorn Tantasith. "Line Mobile must strictly adhere to the order of the NBTC board, or face punishment by the regulator," Mr Takorn said. On 16 September 2019, Line Mobile Thailand announced it would be renamed to Finn Mobile. Dtac has yet provided any public information about the number of subscribers of Finn Mobile, since its launch a year ago.

Taiwan

Line Mobile operates in Taiwan on the

Chunghwa Telecom Chunghwa Telecom (), officially Chunghwa Telecom Co., Ltd., is the largest integrated Telecommunications company, telecommunications service provider in Taiwan, providing Public switched telephone network, PSTN, mobile phone, and broadband se ...

network. The service was originally launched in 2018 through a partnership with

Far EasTone Far EasTone Telecommunications Co., Ltd., marketed as FET (), is a telecommunications company based in Taiwan. It is the third largest behind Chunghwa Telecom and Taiwan Mobile. History Far EasTone was founded in October 1996 by the Far East ...

, which expired on 19 April 2021 and saw Line Mobile customers folded into Far EasTone. The current iteration of Line Mobile on Chunghwa's network was launched on 18 April 2023.

References

{{Japanese mobile phone companies Naver Corporation Mobile phone companies of Japan