The government told Softbank Mobile Corp. on Thursday to report regularly during the three-day weekend beginning Friday on how it is handling carrier switchover applications after suspending the operations last weekend due to computer trouble.
The Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry made the request to Japan's No. 3 mobile carrier when Softbank Mobile Executive Vice President Shinichi Ata visited the ministry to report that the company has doubled its computer system capacity to handle such switchovers.
Ata told the ministry his company suspended operations to accept applications on Oct. 28 and 29 as it was unable to cope with the large amount of people who wished to switch to its services following the Oct. 24 introduction of number portability, a system allowing people to keep the same numbers when changing operators.
"We hope that there will be no trouble over the (next) three days," Ata told reporters.
The ministry could punish Softbank Mobile if it suspends the operations over the long weekend, ministry sources said.