SoftBank Corp. said Sunday its landline telephone services have been fully restored following a disruption since the afternoon of the previous day in parts of eastern and northern Japan.

The company said a network equipment malfunction that was believed to have affected hundreds of thousands of lines had been repaired by around 4 a.m. Sunday.

The disruption impacted mainly business users including retailers and hospitals in parts of the Hokkaido, Tohoku, Kanto and Koshinetsu regions.

==Kyodo

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