US Urges Japan To Lower Telecom Access Fees
August 30, 1999
WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.A., Newsbytes via NewsEdge Corporation : US Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky today urged Japan's Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications (MPT) - similar to the US' Federal Communications Commission (FCC) - to reduce the fees US companies shell out for access to the country's telecommunications networks.
Press reports quoted Barshefsky as saying the connection rates proposed by MPT were "inflated" to protect Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT), Japan's number one phone company, as well as to fend off any foreign competition.
In turn, the higher rates will impose more of a burden on telephone service providers, hurt new investments and services, and "will ensure that Japan lags behind other advanced countries in growth areas such as Internet usage and electronic commerce," Barshefsky is also quoted as saying.
Barshefsky added MPT's proposed interconnection rates are up to eight times higher than those in other markets, including the United States.
Under current guidelines, NTT calculates the cost of interconnection - the linking of its own network with that of other telecommunications carriers - based on the money it has spent in building its network in the past. The US believes NTT should be calculating its charges based on the cost of the connections going forward.
At present, NTT calculates its charges based on the past cost of network construction. MPT's proposed method would see NTT setting its interconnect charges - the price paid by other carriers to connect to its local network in Japan - according to expected network construction costs in the future.
MPT in the past has rejected the American demands, saying that NTT's current interconnection costs are legal under current regulations.
Barshefsky in the past has also threatened to bring up the entire matter before the World Trade Organization (WTO), the only group authorized to deal with the global rules of trade between nations.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) is responsible for developing and coordinating US international trade, commodity, and direct investment policy, and leading or directing negotiations with other countries on such matters.
USTR officials were not immediately available for comment.
Earlier this month, Barshefsky threatened to bring a trade complaint with the WTO against Germany, if Deutsche Telekom imposed interconnection fees that Barshefsky said would "effectively keep competitors out of Germany."
"German regulatory authorities must take concrete steps to ensure that Deutsche Telekom provides timely interconnection at fair rates, terms and conditions for prospective entrants," Barshefsky said in a statement.
Germany had committed to prevent "such anti-competitive behavior," as Barshefsky put it, as part of the WTO Basic Telecom Agreement.
The US started in late March, 1999 to review Germany's telecom market. The study found that "recent German regulatory decisions did not reflect restrictive and potentially WTO-inconsistent proposals made by the dominant German telecommunications carrier," Deutsche Telekom, Barshefsky's office said.
The review, however, also concluded that "the favorable effects of those decisions could be short-lived in preventing anti-competitive behavior by Deutsche Telekom... as new interconnection arrangements applicable from Jan. 1, 2000 are yet to be finalized."
Besides telecommunications, the US has locked horns this year with Europe on trade problems like beef hormones and airplane engine mufflers, among other disputes.
The US Trade Representative's Website is at ustr.gov .
Reported By Newsbytes.com, newsbytes.com .
(19990827/Press Contacts: US Trade Representative's Press Office, 202- 395- 3230, Fax-back 202-395-4809 /WIRES TELECOM, LEGAL, BUSINESS, ASIA/) |
