In this Sept. 25, 2020 file photo, various types of smartphones are displayed at a store in Tokyo. (Mainichi)

       TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Japan's top three mobile carriers stopped or will stop charging customers contract cancellation fees, with SoftBank Corp. becoming the last to decide on such a plan amid the government's efforts to spur competition in the mobile phone market.

       SoftBank, Japan's third largest mobile phone service operator by subscriber, said Tuesday it will discontinue cancellation charges in February when customers terminate contracts signed by September 2019. The company does not ask for such fees for services subscribed since then.

       Leading mobile carrier NTT Docomo Inc. scrapped their cancellation policy this month and KDDI Corp., the second largest mobile operator, plans to do so by the end of March.

       In the mobile phone market dominated by the three companies, each charged or charges 9,500 yen ($80) to cancel two-year contracts, discouraging consumers from switching their services to other carriers' whenever they want to.

       In October, 2019, a revised telecommunications business law came into effect, requiring mobile carriers to cut cancellation fees for two-year contracts to 1,000 yen or lower.

       Mobile carriers, however, maintained cancellation charges for contracts introduced before the new regulation was implemented until the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications last month called on them to review the policy.

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