Japan (country regulation overview)

Overview

Fixed market overview

Mobile market overview

Broadband (DSL and FTTH) market

National regulatory authority

Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC)

Global ICT Strategy Bureau

Information and Communications Bureau

Telecommunication Bureau

Telecoms Business Dispute Settlement Commission

National competition authority

Key legislation and regulation

Amendment of the Telecommunications Business Law and the NTT Law

Restructuring the NTT Group and fair competition

Mobile licensing

3G licences

Reallocation of 3G radio frequency to 3.9G

Digital dividend in Japan

WiMAX in Japan

Retail regulation

Regulated services

Price cap on fixed telephone and leased line services

Wholesale fixed regulation

Services subject to regulation

Cost model for reference interconnection offer

Procedure for setting and reviewing charges

VoIP regulation

Optical fibre regulation

Basis for wholesale charges for NTT’s optical fibre in 2008-2010

Narrowband flat-rate interconnection

Flat-rate Internet access call origination

Narrowband voice interconnection

Interconnect charges

Set-up service for interconnect

Wholesale access

Local loop unbundling (LLU)

Wholesale broadband services

Wholesale mobile regulation

Services subject to regulation

Basis for mobile termination rates

Current level of mobile termination charges

Mobile number portability

MVNO regulation

Guidelines for MVNO business

Competition cases

Current competition cases

Universal service

Universal service providers and the universal service fund

List of Tables

Table 1: Award of 3G licences in Japan

Table 2: Telecoms price-cap regulation in Japan

Table 3: Standard charge index for 2006-2009

Table 4: Fixed sector in Japan: services subject to regulation

Table 5: NTT East and NTT West’s fibre-optic offers (¥ per month)

Table 6: Fixed interconnect charges in Japan

Table 7: LLU charges by line type in Japan in 2009

Table 8: Mobile sector: services subject to regulation

Table 9: The asymmetric regulation (designated telecommunications facility) system in Japan

Table 10: Mobile termination rates by operator (¥ per minute)

Table 11: Changes in subscriber numbers and growth rates after the introduction of MNP

Table 12: Universal service costs in Japan

List of Figures

Figure 1: DSL incumbent and other operators’ market shares in Japan, 4Q05-4Q08

Figure 2: Subscriber numbers by technology in Japan, 4Q05-4Q08

Figure 3: Structure and coverage of NTT

Figure 4: Plan for digital dividend

Figure 5: Unbundled network elements

Figure 6: Configuration of NTT fibre optic unbundling

Figure 7: NTT's investment in fibre local loops and total investment in facility

Figure 8: Unbundling cost system

Figure 9: Wholesale charges of NTT’s optical fibre in 2008-2010

Figure 10: Interconnect architecture

Figure 11: Revision of ‘benchmarking method’