Starting today, Softbank is the new owner of Vodafone’s Japanese unit.

Already having general business problems, Vodafone chose to sell its Japanese unit for an unexpected sum of money: $15.30 billion, including debt, out of which $10.50 billion are going to be returned to the shareholders.

Vodafone Japan had some serious problems caused by the unsuccessful third generation (3G) phones sales which fell flat. As it did absolutely no good for the business, Vodafone decided to put its unit for sale.

The buyer is Japan’s largest broadband Internet provider which was awarded a mobile license last year: Softbank. Along with the buying of Vodafone KK, Softbank has made another step forward in achieving its ultimate goal of becoming a major player in Japan’s mobile market.

Taking into account Vodafone’s problems it is interesting to see whether the company is going to also sell its 45 percent stock in the U.S. joint venture Verizon Wireless.

If BellSouth is now owned by AT&T and as Verizon CEO has already stated publicly its intentions of buying out the 45 percent stock from Vodafone, we could witness another move on the market. Vodafone’s next step could be the selling of the American shares.