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To: Boplicity who wrote (5199)	1/13/2000 11:53:00 PM
From: Ruffian	Respond to of 13582

U.S. Threatens Japan Over Telecom Fees By Reuters staff 13 January 2000 The United States urged Japan on Wednesday to slash the connection fees that companies pay for access to telecommunications networks controlled by telecoms giant Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. Ahead of talks between the United States and Japan in Washington next week, Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Richard Fisher said the Clinton administration reserved the right to retaliate against Japan if authorities refused to reduce the interconnection rates that NTT charges other carriers for access to its local phone networks. The United States wants Japan to cut existing interconnection rates by nearly half by the end of this year. Fisher said the rate levied by NTT is currently 3.55 yen (3.25 cents) per minute, well above fees charged in other countries, including the United States, Britain and France. But Japanese press reports said Japan's Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications would propose revising the fee-calculation system to reduce the rate NTT charges by some 16.5 percent over several years. "My understanding (is) that what they proposed essentially represents little or no significant change," Fisher told reporters in conference call. "There's a simple reason for this," he added. "NTT is a monopoly and is trying to do everything it can to delay a significant reduction in rates." WTO INTERVENTION COULD BE SOUGHT If Tokyo balks at U.S. demands, Washington could ask the World Trade Organisation to intervene in the dispute. "We reserve our options," Fisher said. He declined to elaborate. U.S. trade officials have long complained that Japan's telecommunications sector is encumbered by outdated and anti-competitive regulations and have demanded that Japanese regulators rein in NTT, a former state monopoly and the dominant player in Japan's telecommunications sector. "I expect that the (Posts and Telecommunications) Ministry will do what it is supposed to do, which is regulate the company and it will not end up being that the company regulates the ministry," Fisher said. The United States as well as domestic and foreign carriers complain that NTT's connection fees - said to be three to four times those in other industrial nations - stifle competition in the booming telecoms sector. They argue that Japan would lose out on the economic benefit of burgeoning electronic commerce, send a negative signal to foreign and domestic information-technology investors, and increase trade friction with the United States if it refused to reduce interconnection fees substantially. "Barriers to competition like high interconnection rates create a drag not only on the telecommunications market but on the entire information industry sector," Fisher said. NTT argues that deep cuts in its connection fees would wound it financially. (c) 1999 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. Reuters, Reuters Dotted Logo and the Sphere Logo are trademarks and registered trademarks of the Reuters Group of companies around the world. For additional information on other Reuters Services please visit the Reuters public web site - reuters.com