Press Releases 2008

‘White Plan’ Subscribers Exceed 13 Million

TOKYO, May 22, 2008 --- SOFTBANK MOBILE Corp. (hereinafter ‘SBM’) announced that ‘White Plan’ subscription applications exceeded 13 million on May 21, 2008.

White Plan is a simple price plan with a basic monthly charge of 980 yen (including tax). It offers free domestic voice calls*1 to SoftBank handsets and Disney Mobile handsets from 1:00 to 21:00, and for domestic voice calls outside that time and with others it offers a tariff of 21 yen (including tax) per 30 seconds*1. In addition, mail exchange with SoftBank 3G handsets and Disney Mobile handsets is free of charge*2.

The number of applications for ‘Double White’, a discount service for White Plan exceeded 4.51 million of even date, and this number is growing steadily. Double White is the service which provides 50% off on the domestic call tariff of 10.5 yen (including tax) per 30 seconds with a fixed monthly charge of 980 yen (including tax), and offers 50% off domestic ‘Video Call’ and ‘64K Digital Data Communication’ tariffs of 18.9 yen (including tax) per 30 seconds.

In addition to the above Double White and ‘White Plan Family Discount 24’ which offers free domestic voice calls*1 between family members for 24 hours, SBM has launched ‘White Plan Student Discount*3’, a discount service for students, and ‘White Plan Corporate Discount 24’, a discount service for corporate customers on February 1, 2008 and March 1, 2008 respectively. These discount services for White Plan have been well received by customers. On June 1, 2008, SBM will introduce ‘White Plan Corporate Discount 24 Plus’, a new menu for White Plan Corporate Discount 24.

Furthermore, SBM will start to accept applications for ‘White Call 24*4’ and ‘White Line 24*5’, that offer free domestic voice calls between White Plan subscribers and ‘BB Phone (phone numbers starting with 050)’ subscribers or ‘OTOKU Line’ subscribers respectively from June 3, 2008.

SBM will further strive to provide services that meet customer needs and offer an environment of greater comfort and convenience for SoftBank handset usage.

[Notes]
  • *1 Not applicable to Video Call, 64K Digital Data Communication and Global Services.
  • *2 For mail exchange with non-SoftBank handsets, communication charge will be required, and subscription to S! Basic Pack (monthly charge of 315 yen including tax) is also required. For using International Messaging Service, the regular communication charge will be required.
  • *3 White Plan Student Discount requires the subscription to White Plan, S! Basic Pack and Unlimited Packet Discount at the time of application. An applicant or user must be a student and submit necessary documents as designated by SBM. In addition, SBM has started to accept applications for White Plan Student Discount from existing student customers at the time of handset upgrade (contract change or additional purchase) from April 15, 2008.
  • *4 White Call 24 is a service for consumers with SoftBank 3G handsets. Subscription to both White Plan provided by SBM and ‘Yahoo! BB ADSL’ (or ‘SoftBank Broadband ADSL’) provided by SOFTBANK BB Corp. is required. In addition, basic monthly charges will be required for subscription to both services.
  • *5 White Line 24 is a service for corporate customers, and there are two services which offer free voice calls from OTOKU Line subscribers to White Plan subscribers, and from White Plan subscribers to OTOKU Line subscribers. To make both ways of call free of charge, subscription to both ‘White Line 24 (OTOKU Line)’ provided by SOFTBANK TELECOM Corp. and ‘White Line 24 (Mobile)’ provided by SBM is required. White Line 24 (OTOKU Line) and White Line 24 (Mobile) require fixed monthly charges respectively in addition to basic monthly charges.

SoftBank ‘White Plan’ history

Date Topic
January 5, 2007 Announcement of a new price plan, ‘White Plan’
(Started providing White Plan on January 16, 2007)
January 25, 2007 Announcement of ‘Double White’, a discount service exclusive for White Plan
(Started providing Double White on March 1, 2007)
February 5, 2007 White Plan subscribers exceeded 1 million
March 5, 2007 White Plan subscribers exceeded 2 million
March 31, 2007 White Plan subscribers exceeded 3 million
May 3, 2007 White Plan subscribers exceeded 4 million
May 9, 2007 Announcement of ‘White Plan Family Discount 24’, a family discount service of White Plan
(Started applying the discount from the June 2007 billing month)
June 7, 2007 White Plan subscribers exceeded 5 million
July 8, 2007 White Plan subscribers exceeded 6 million
August 12, 2007 White Plan subscribers exceeded 7 million
September 17, 2007 White Plan subscribers exceeded 8 million
October 29, 2007 White Plan subscribers exceeded 9 million
December 22, 2007 White Plan subscribers exceeded 10 million
January 21, 2008 Announcement of a discount service for students, ‘White Plan Student Discount’
(Started providing White Plan Student Discount on February 1, 2008)
February 8, 2008 White Plan subscribers exceeded 11 million
February 22, 2008 Announcement of a discount service for corporate customers, ‘White Plan Corporate Discount 24’
(Started providing White Plan Corporate Discount 24 on March 1, 2008)
February 28, 2008 Announcement of ‘White Plan Corporate Discount 24 Plus’, a new menu for White Plan Corporate Discount 24
(Started providing White Plan Corporate Discount 24 Plus on June 1, 2008, planned)
March 20, 2008 White Plan subscribers exceeded 12 million
April 15, 2008 Started accepting applications to White Plan Student Discount from existing student customers
May 21, 2008 White Plan subscribers exceeded 13 million

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  • * White Plan, Double White, White Line and S! Basic Pack are registered trademarks or trademarks of SOFTBANK MOBILE Corp.
  • * White Call is a trademark of SOFTBANK MOBILE Corp. and SOFTBANK BB Corp.
  • * Yahoo! is a registered trademark of Yahoo! Inc. in the U.S.
  • * The names of the companies, products and services used in this press release are registered trademarks or trademarks of the respective companies.
  • * SOFTBANK, the SOFTBANK name and logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of SOFTBANK CORP. in Japan and other countries.
  • The information is true and accurate at the time of publication.
    Price, specification, contact and other information of products and service may be subjected to change. The information contains certain forward-looking statements that are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements.