Yahoo Japan to buy mobile and broadband provider eAccess from SoftBank for $3.17 bn

Yahoo Japan Corp, in which SoftBank holds a 42.5 per cent stake, today struck a deal to buy mobile and broadband provider eAccess Ltd from its parent SoftBank Corp for ¥324 billion ($3.17 billion).

eAccess is scheduled to merge with Willcom Inc, and Yahoo Japan said that the acquisition of  eAccess is conditional on the merger going through.

Willcom, which is also owned by SoftBank, sells flat-rate wireless connections and voice calls in Japan.

Yahoo Japan, the country's largest portal site, will start a new carrier service to be called Y!mobile, which shares phone networks with SoftBank.

Yahoo Japan said that the purpose of the acquisition is to further stimulate rapid growth in Internet services for smartphones and tablets.

Softbank, run by Masayoshi Son, had acquired Tokyo-based eAccess in 2012 in a $2.6 billion share swap deal.