Editing SIM lock (section)

===Japan===
Japan's [[Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications]] has legislated that all smartphones and tablets released after May 1, 2015, by [[NTT DoCoMo]], [[au (mobile phone company)|au/Okinawa Cellular]] and [[SoftBank Group|SoftBank Mobile]] (the three major carriers in Japan) must be sold without a SIM lock upon request from customers and without any cost to the customer involved. Before that, from 2011 until 2015, only NTT DoCoMo and au/Okinawa Cellular would remove the SIM lock from phones with a SIM unlock function after the phone is kept or used at least six months after purchase.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.japantoday.com/category/technology/view/mobile-phone-service-operators-lift-sim-locks|title=Mobile phone service operators lift SIM locks|website=japantoday.com|access-date=22 March 2018}}</ref>