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To: axial who wrote (8628)	9/27/2000 1:52:41 AM
From: MangoBoy	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 12823

[WSJ: NTT Intends to Link Homes To Web With High-Speed Fiber] interactive.wsj.com TOKYO -- Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp. has quietly disclosed plans for what it calls the world's first widespread, high-speed Internet service delivered by optical fiber directly into homes. NTT's service, scheduled to make its debut in Tokyo and Osaka in December, marks a major push to bring Japanese Internet use up to U.S. levels. At the same time, the NTT move is raising concerns among rivals, including U.S. companies, that Japan's dominant telecommunications carrier is trying to extend its near-monopoly in local telephone calls into the Internet. Japan lags the U.S. in high-speed Internet access that allows people to download data-heavy audio and video files. In the U.S., many cable TV operators offer such service, but cable TV hasn't spread nearly as widely in Japan. Another popular option in the U.S., Asia and Europe is the digital subscriber line, or DSL, a way of souping up existing copper phone wires to carry more data. But DSL service is just beginning in Japan. NTT is trying to leapfrog past these technologies by connecting homes with the same optical fiber already used world-wide as the backbone for computer networks. Running fiber to the home has long been viewed as an ideal solution in theory but too expensive in practice. Now NTT says it has built fiber networks deep into every neighborhood in central Tokyo and Osaka, making it feasible to extend fiber the final few hundred meters, or less in some cases, to homes. NTT said the typical user will pay several hundred dollars for installation and a monthly fee of around 13,000 yen ($120) to get an always-on fiber line with maximum data speed of 10 megabits per second. At that speed, someone could send 10 pictures taken with a digital camera to a friend by e-mail in a second. Users also will have to pay a separate monthly fee to their Internet-service provider. Prices are likely to fall as more people move online, an NTT spokesman says. NTT disclosed details of the service in an opinion paper filed with a committee at the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications that is studying ways to get Japanese online faster. Some rivals fear NTT may overwhelm potential competitors by plowing money into cut-rate Internet services. "NTT could fortify its position and preclude other people from coming in," says Lee Daniels, president of Jupiter Telecommunications, Japan's largest cable operator. Rivals want NTT to ensure that its fiber links into homes will be available at a fair price for other carriers to use. NTT has rejected the request, saying it controls only 36% of optical fiber lines in Japan and therefore shouldn't face restrictions on fiber service. The new NTT service also raises questions about the Japanese government's plans to spend taxpayer money on high-speed Internet links. Last week, Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori said he plans to set annual government targets for Internet service. Sony Corp. Chairman Nobuyuki Idei, the top technology adviser to the prime minister, also has pushed for a quick rollout of high-speed Internet service, hoping that will pave the way for data-intensive applications such as interactive three-dimensional video games and movies on demand. NTT officials say Japan's Internet backbone already is stout enough to handle growing traffic loads. They say the extension of fiber to city homes makes sense on a commercial basis. That means the government role might be limited to subsidizing rural regions that don't have enough customers to make high-speed Internet service profitable. Opposition politicians say Japan already is spending too much on rural subsidies.