Japan
Opensignal is the independent global standard for analyzing consumers' connectivity experiences. Our industry reports are the definitive guide to understanding what happens when people use their mobile and broadband connections in their daily life.
Japan
Opensignal is the independent global standard for analyzing consumers' connectivity experiences. Our industry reports are the definitive guide to understanding what happens when people use their mobile and broadband connections in their daily life.
Key Findings
National
NURO Hikari takes home Consistent Quality
NURO Hikari seizes the Consistent Quality award for fixed-line services from J:COM, winning with a score of 82.2% — 0.5 percentage points ahead of the previous sole winner. These scores represent the percentage of users’ tests that meet the minimum recommended performance thresholds for watching HD video, participating in group video conference calls, and playing games.
NURO Hikari once again triumphs in both fixed-line speed awards
Our fixed-line users in Japan enjoy the fastest speeds on NURO Hikari’s network. The internet service provider defends both the Download Speed and Upload Speed awards, with scores of 175.1Mbps and 120.4Mbps.
NURO Hikari takes home the Video award
NURO Hikari breaks out of the statistical tie it shared with BiGlobe Hikari for the Video award in the previous report, claiming the award outright with a score of 76.2 points on a 100-point scale — narrowly ahead of BiGlobe.
NURO Hikari remains the sole winner of Reliability
NURO Hikari retains the Reliability award for fixed-line services, with a score of 725 points on a 100–1000 scale — beating runner-up Biglobe Hikari by 13 points. Opensignal’s Reliability metric measures how consistently a household can connect to the internet and successfully complete tasks such as streaming video or browsing. It assesses the entire user experience, from initial connection to task completion.
NURO Hikari earns the title of Best Home Internet in Japan
In addition to the individual award category wins, NURO Hikari also earns the Best Home Internet award for fixed-line services, which highlights internet service providers that deliver outstanding overall experiences nationwide across key Opensignal metrics.
Regional
NURO Hikari wins the most fixed-line awards across Japan’s regions
NURO Hikari wins 15 awards outright and 12 jointly out of 40 available across Japan’s eight regions for fixed-line services. The ISP triumphs in every category — either outright or jointly — in Chugoku, Hokkaido, Kanto, and Tohoku. Meanwhile, Commufa Hikari repeats this feat in Chubu, ending with four sole wins and one shared win there. Pikara by STNet also wins across all categories in Shikoku, either outright or jointly.
Market Overview
The dominant technology in Japan continues to be fiber, accounting for 70% of all fixed broadband connections. Network upgrades, premium high-speed plans, and the gradual migration away from legacy copper infrastructure will further drive market growth in the fibre segment in Japan.
The cable subscription base remains sizable (10% of all subscriptions), although its popularity continues to wane, while xDSL is now virtually non-existent, having been replaced by fibre roll-outs. Meanwhile, Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) is steadily gaining market share — Japan has one of the highest proportions of FWA subscriptions in total fixed broadband among OECD markets.
The three main players in the Japanese fixed broadband market offer both fixed-line and mobile services, including FWA subscriptions. NTT is the dominant player, controlling more than 43% of the fixed broadband market, according to TeleGeography, and serves its FLET’S Hikari offering to consumers through an ecosystem of intermediary partners. NTT East has announced plans to launch Japan’s fastest residential FTTH service, starting in Tokyo, with speeds of up to 25Gbps — a significant upgrade from the previous 10Gbps threshold. SoftBank is the second-largest ISP in Japan (14% market share), followed by au (13%) and J:COM (nearly 8%).
The analysis covers a 90-day period starting January 1, 2026, and includes results at national and regional levels, as well as across urban and rural areas. Nationally, we compare user experience across six main fixed-line ISPs in Japan — au, Biglobe Hikari, FLET’s Hikari, J:COM, NURO Hikari, and SoftBank. Additionally, we analyze the experience of fixed-line broadband users across all eight Japanese regions, including major regional players.
Opensignal analyzes real-world data from Japan’s fixed-line users across five key measures of experience: Consistent Quality, Download Speed, Upload Speed, Video Experience, and Reliability Experience. Together, these metrics reflect how households use broadband in practice — from remote work and education to streaming and gaming. Our results cover a mix of fixed-line technologies (e.g., cable, FTTH, xDSL) and exclude Wi-Fi hotspot usage.
Plan characteristics — such as speed tiers or data caps — vary significantly by provider, and the mix of plans available affects average experience results. Opensignal’s measurements capture users’ real-world experience, regardless of the plan they have purchased. This report therefore reflects actual performance across all users’ plans. A user’s fixed broadband experience is also influenced by the router they use.
National Fixed Broadband Experience
Category description:
The experience of our users across fixed-line methods of broadband access delivery i.e. Fiber, xDSL, Cable (HFC).
In the Wireline Experience analysis in Japan, NURO Hikari wins outright across all five categories. It takes the Consistent Quality award from J:COM with a score of 82.2%. It also breaks out of the statistical tie it shared with BiGlobe Hikari for the Video award in the previous report, claiming the award outright this time. NURO Hikari remains the sole winner of the Download Speed, Upload Speed, and Reliability awards.
NURO Hikari also earns the Best Home Internet award for fixed-line services, which highlights internet service providers that deliver outstanding overall experiences nationwide across key Opensignal metrics.
Definitions
Opensignal's Broadband Reliability Experience measures the ability of a household to connect to the internet and to successfully complete 'uninterrupted' tasks across multiple devices, encompassing work and recreational activities. While Reliability incorporates and expands upon elements akin to Broadband Consistent Quality, it uniquely includes assessments of initial connectivity and continuous completion of tasks, making it more comprehensive in scenarios involving multiple simultaneous connections.
Definitions
Broadband Consistent Quality measures how often a network, from the perspective of a single device once connectivity is established, meets the requirements for common applications. Broadband Consistent Quality uses six key performance indicators: download and upload speeds, latency, jitter, packet loss, and time to first byte, setting thresholds appropriate for individual rather than multiple device usage. Metrics represent the percentage of users’ tests meeting these performance thresholds to support activities like watching HD video, completing group video calls, and gaming across all hours of the day.
Definitions
Measured in Mbps, Broadband Download Speed represents the typical everyday speeds a user experiences across a provider’s network.
Definitions
Measured in Mbps, Broadband Upload Speed measures the average upload speeds for each internet service provider observed by our users across their fixed networks. Typically, upload speeds are slower than download speeds, but this often depends on the technology used for broadband connections.
Definitions
Opensignal’s adaptive video experience quantifies the quality of video streamed to mobile devices by measuring real-world video streams over an operator's network. The metric measures users’ adaptive video experience using a Mean Opinion Score (MOS) approach inspired by International Telecommunication Union (ITU) studies which have derived a relationship between technical parameters of adaptive bitrate video streaming and the perceived video experience as reported by real people.
The videos tested are streamed directly from the world’s largest video content providers and include a wide selection of resolutions that dynamically match the network conditions, available bandwidth and device performance. Resolutions range from 144p to 2160p, which is also called 4K or UHD (Ultra High Definition). The model calculates a MOS score on a 0 to 100 scale by evaluating a number of parameters, including: the time to start playing the video, the quality of the video, the time playing each resolution, and the time spent re-buffering.
Regional Fixed Broadband Experience
Category description:
The experience of our users across fixed-line methods of broadband access delivery i.e. Fiber, xDSL, Cable (HFC).
We analyzed five dimensions of fixed broadband experience across all eight regions of Japan.
NURO Hikari wins 15 awards outright and 12 jointly out of 40 available across Japan’s eight regions for fixed-line services. The ISP triumphs in every category — either outright or jointly — in Chugoku, Hokkaido, Kanto, and Tohoku.
In our regional fixed broadband analysis, we included notable local players, which often dominate their respective markets. Commufa Hikari wins in every category in Chubu, ending with four sole wins and one shared win. In Shikoku, Pikara by STNet also wins across all categories — three outright and two jointly. Looking at other regions — Enecom in Chugoku, BBIQ by QTnet in Kyushu, and eo Hikari Net in Kinki each earn three awards, either outright or jointly.
-
A-I
- Chubu
- Chugoku
- Hokkaido
-
J-R
- Kanto
- Kinki
- Kyushu
-
S-Z
- Shikoku
- Tohoku
in Chubu
in Chubu
in Chubu
in Chubu
in Chubu
in Chugoku
in Chugoku
in Chugoku
in Chugoku
in Chugoku
in Hokkaido
in Hokkaido
in Hokkaido
in Hokkaido
in Hokkaido
in Kanto
in Kanto
in Kanto
in Kanto
in Kanto
in Kinki
in Kinki
in Kinki
in Kinki
in Kinki
in Kyushu
in Kyushu
in Kyushu
in Kyushu
in Kyushu
in Shikoku
in Shikoku
in Shikoku
in Shikoku
in Shikoku
in Tohoku
in Tohoku
in Tohoku
in Tohoku
in Tohoku
Related Analysis
Our Methodology
Collecting billions of individual measurements daily from over 100 million devices globally, Opensignal independently analyzes mobile and broadband user experience on every major network operator around the globe.
About Opensignal
Opensignal is the leading global provider of independent insights into consumers' connectivity experiences and choice of carrier. Our proprietary insights into mobile and broadband networks give operators the solutions they need to profitably compete and win, from executive level scorecards and public validation to pin-point level engineering analytics and consumer decision dynamics.
Check how your internet connection impacts your favorite apps with the Meteor App
Journalists, please retain the Opensignal logo and copyright
(© Opensignal Limited) information when using this image.
This image may not be used for any commercial purpose, including use in advertisements or other promotional content, without prior written consent.
Confidence Intervals
For every metric we calculate statistical confidence intervals indicated on our graphs. When confidence intervals overlap, our measured results are too close to declare a winner. In those cases, we show a statistical draw. For this reason, some metrics have multiple operator winners.
In our bar graphs we represent confidence intervals as boundaries on either sides of graph bars.
In our supporting-metric charts we show confidence intervals as +/- numerical values.
Why confidence intervals are vital in analyzing mobile network experience