Plus One Marketing, the supplier of handsets for Japan’s Freetel low-cost smartphone service, filed for bankruptcy protection on Monday, leaving liabilities of about ¥2.6 billion ($22.9 million).
The company, established by ex-Dell smartphone pioneer Kaoru Masuda in 2012, sold its mobile service operations to internet services company Rakuten on November 1st.
Plus One was already struggling, posting a ¥5.5 billion ($48.5 million) net loss for the fiscal year ending in March of this year. To make matters worse, the very next month, the Consumer Affairs Agency found Freetel’s claim to offer the fastest communications speed in the industry was unfounded.
