Japan: Starlink for SoftBank smartphones
April 6, 2026
By Chris Forrester
Japanese conglomerate SoftBank is the latest to adopt SpaceX’s broadband-to-satphone system, Starlink. SoftBank joins NTT Docomo and KDDI in supporting Starlink. These are three very large Japanese carriers and will – between them – supply coverage over mountainous regions, remote islands and during Japan’s ever-present natural disasters.
The trio will compete against one remaining telco which is aligned with AST SpaceMobile which is Rakuten Mobile. Rakuten’s agreement with AST is for exclusivity so the rival telcos could not tap into AST’s system, which will launch later this year. Rakuten, to date, is the fastest-growing Japanese telco.
With Docomo launching its Starlink service on April 27th (free for most users initially), KDDI already live since 2025, while SoftBank is still finalising details.
The upside for Japanese consumers is that by the end of this year they’ll have connectivity over the whole country, one way or another.