(Kyodo News via NewsEdge) The Japanese government instructed Softbank Mobile to overhaul its auxiliary telecommunications facilities by mid-June following a series of disruptions caused by system glitches in April and May that affected a total of over 1.5 million subscribers.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications also instructed the mobile company to submit a report by June 13 on measures to prevent similar incidents.
The system glitches occurred on April 9, May 5 and 6.
On the evening of April 9, a system glitch occurred in part of its switching system disrupting communications for its third-generation mobile phones, affecting up to 870,000 service subscribers.
As the company's auxiliary system failed to work appropriately, it took about five and a half hours before the service was restored to normal following the replacement of components in the original system.
The problem prevented access to mobile phone locations registered in the switching system, the company said earlier.
The company suffered a different system disorder earlier the same day that disrupted the phone and email communications of around 5,000 3G service subscribers in central Tokyo for about four and a half hours from shortly before 9 a.m.
The May 5 and 6 glitches affected about 44,000 and 640,000 subscribers respectively.
The company said it has already reviewed connection components in its telecommunication facilities.
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