The two regional arms of Nippon Telegraph
and Telephone Corp. have decided to allow new fixed-line phone customers
to choose whether to pay the access fee required to acquire a phone line
up front or in monthly installments. The decision was made by a request by
Telecommunications Minister Toranosuke Katayama to eventually stop
charging the 72,000 Yen access fee, as many new customers are opting for
cellular phone services, which do not charge the fee. Starting next
spring, NTT's new plan will permit new fixed-line phone customers to
choose either paying the 72,000 Yen when they sign up for service, or
adding 640 Yen to their basic monthly phone charge, for a total of 2,090 -
2,390 Yen. For customers planning to use fixed-line phones for less than
nine years and four months, the higher monthly charges would be cheaper
than the up-front payment. The firms will gradually reduce both payments
and aim to abolish the access fee altogether. Customers who have already
paid the access fee, however, will not be compensated because the 4
trillion Yen worth of repayments would be too great for the NTT firms to
afford. Fixed-line phone subscriptions peaked at 61.46 million at the end
of fiscal 1996, dropping to 52.09 million at the end of fiscal 2000.
(August 31, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun)
Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp.
(NTT) has reduced the monthly fee on their ADSL (asymmetric digital
subscriber line) broadband Internet service about a month after their most
recent cut as price competition intensified. After Yahoo! BB of the
Softbank Corp. group announced the launch of its ADSL service with the
monthly fee of 2,280 Yen in late June, price competition among ADSL
suppliers has intensified as ADSL rivals such as Sony Communication
Network Corp's So-net ADSL service followed suit. The NTT group had just
announced a reduction in the fee to 3,800 Yen from 4,050 Yen effective
July 16. NTT's monthly fee on their ADSL service will be cut to 3,100 Yen
from the 3,800 Yen, effective of October 1. However, NTT East won't be
able to cut the fee further. NTT East also said that it would be difficult
to lower the fee to levels low enough to be competitive against companies
offering fees ranging from 2,300 Yen to 4,000 Yen. NTT East and NTT West
also decided to lower the monthly fees on their ISDN (integrated services
digital network) services to 2,900 Yen from the current 3,300 Yen,
effective on the same date as the ADSL fee reduction (October 1). NTT
shares ended down 2.8% at 549,000 Yen on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The
Nikkei 225 Stock Average was down 1.9% at 10979.76. (August 29, Dow Jones)
NTT is ordered to report quarterly on
L-mode service.
The Telecommunications Ministry will request the two regional Nippon
Telegraph and Telephone Corps. to report on their L-mode Internet services
for fixed phones on a quarterly basis, starting this autumn. NTT West
Corp. and NTT East Corp. will report on declines or rises in the number of
users of the L-mode service, as well as how much they have opened up their
infrastructures to other telecom carriers and information providers
allowing them to start L-mode-related businesses. They will also be
required to report on the Web sites available through the L-mode service,
including the news and weather. At the end of every fiscal year, the NTT
affiliates will have to report on fees charged to L-mode service users for
receiving information through the service, as well as on NTT West's and
East's income from their inter-city telecom fees. The ministry hopes these
requirements will help encourage the two NTT affiliates to steadily open
their networks to other firms. (August 24, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun)
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