TOKYO: Japanese regulators on Wednesday said Apple Inc. may have breached antitrust rules by forcing mobile service providers to sell its iPhones cheaply and charge higher monthly fees, denying consumers a fair choice.

The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) said that Apple had forced NTT Docomo Inc., KDDI Corp. and SoftBank Group Corp. to offer subsidies and sell iPhones at a discount.

The FTC, which began looking into Apple’s sales practices in 2016, did not punish Apple as the US company had agreed to revise its contracts with the carriers, it said.