Japan’s SoftBank plans to separate into two companies, one focused on its domestic telecoms arm and the other covering its global operations.

Described as a “strategic decision” by the company, Nikesh Arora, who left Google to become SoftBank president last year, will head up the international operations, while Ken Miyauchi, head of its mobile business in Japan, will lead the domestic company. Both new operations will be based in Tokyo.

In a statement, SoftBank said the reorganisation is part of its previously announced strategic decision, “which is to position its two core businesses (domestic operations and global operations) as future growth drivers”.

Internationally, SoftBank holds approximately 80 per cent in struggling US operator Sprint, a 32 per cent stake in China’s Alibaba, as well as investments in a number of other technology companies in Asia.

In Japan, SoftBank is the country’s third largest operator, behind KDDI and NTT Docomo, with more than 44 million connections.

As part of the plan, SoftBank said investment securities held will be transferred to each operation, in relation to the management company, in phases.

For example, investment securities of domestic subsidiaries such as SoftBank’s Japanese business, or Yahoo Japan, will be transferred to the domestic operations management company.

Those of global companies, like Sprint or Alibaba, will be transferred to the global company.

The Japanese operator last week also announced a plan to create a subsidiary to lend money to loss making Sprint, with loans secured against its spectrum holdings. 

A spokesman told Wall Street Journal the plan is part of the company’s aim of “becoming a global business”, a process first outlined in May last year.

The process is due to complete by the end of the year.