Netflix will be provided via SoftBank stores, as well as other electronics retailers and via SoftBank’s website. Netflix will also be provided via direct carrier billing, meaning would-be subscribers could be encouraged to sign up without having to complete any additional payment details.
Though Netflix has partnered with telcos before, for example when it launched in France in 2014, this latest tie-up will see the Netflix mobile app pre-installed on SoftBank smartphones from October 2015.
Netflix claims 65 million users across more than 50 markets, including the Americas and large swaths of Europe, as well as Australia and New Zealand. The company has previously said that it plans to be available globally, in more than 200 countries, by the end of 2016, and that Asia will feature prominently on its extended rollout.
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