Japan Rakuten Inc said on Tuesday that applications for its mobile business's unlimited mobile service carrier plan had surpassed 1 million since launching on April 8.

Rakuten Mobile Inc said that demand surged during a period when stay-at-home measures were in place to help prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Rakuten had been forced to push back the start of commercial services for its mobile network to April as it fought for share in a market currently dominated by three competitors.

(Reporting by Elaine Lies, editing by Louise Heavens)