- News>
- ICE Economy
NTT regional units to offer IP phone service
Tokyo, Aug 07: Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp`s (NTT) regional units said on Thursday they plan to launch a cut-rate telephone service based on Web technology later this year, intensifying competition in the nascent market.
Tokyo, Aug 07: Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp's (NTT) regional units said on Thursday they plan to launch a cut-rate telephone service based on Web technology later this year, intensifying competition in the nascent market.
NTT East and NTT West said they would apply to the Telecommunications Ministry for permission on Friday, with a view to offering the Internet Protocol (IP) phone service for corporate customers as early as October.
"Most of our rivals are already offering IP phone services," an NTT East spokesman said. "If we remain the only provider without such a service, customers may abandon us. So this was necessary as a defensive measure."
Traditional fixed-line carriers, including NTT East and West, are struggling with an exodus of users to mobile phones and growing IP telephony. NTT, which doesn't want to be left out of the growing market, launched an IP phone operation in March through its long-distance unit, NTT Communications, and made its backbone network available to Internet service providers planning to offer IP phones.
But promoting IP phones is a tricky move for conventional operators as that could further squeeze their fixed-line profits.
NTT East and NTT West said that details, such as phone rates, have not been decided.
Existing IP telephony services in Japan typically allow free calls among IP phone users and charge about eight yen (6.6 cents) per three minutes for domestic calls to regular phones regardless of distance.
Fixed-line subscribers usually pay around 8.5 yen per three minutes for local calls and 80 yen per three minutes for long-distance calls between Tokyo and Osaka, in western Japan.
The IP phone system carries voice over packet-based networks controlled by routers, which are cheaper to build than conventional telephone networks. IP technology also allows several users to share the same line. Cheaper phone rates are the result although voice quality is often inferior to that of regular phones.
Shares in NTT were unchanged at 492,000 yen by midday, compared with a 0.70 per cent drop in the Nikkei average. Bureau Report
"Most of our rivals are already offering IP phone services," an NTT East spokesman said. "If we remain the only provider without such a service, customers may abandon us. So this was necessary as a defensive measure."
Traditional fixed-line carriers, including NTT East and West, are struggling with an exodus of users to mobile phones and growing IP telephony. NTT, which doesn't want to be left out of the growing market, launched an IP phone operation in March through its long-distance unit, NTT Communications, and made its backbone network available to Internet service providers planning to offer IP phones.
But promoting IP phones is a tricky move for conventional operators as that could further squeeze their fixed-line profits.
NTT East and NTT West said that details, such as phone rates, have not been decided.
Existing IP telephony services in Japan typically allow free calls among IP phone users and charge about eight yen (6.6 cents) per three minutes for domestic calls to regular phones regardless of distance.
Fixed-line subscribers usually pay around 8.5 yen per three minutes for local calls and 80 yen per three minutes for long-distance calls between Tokyo and Osaka, in western Japan.
The IP phone system carries voice over packet-based networks controlled by routers, which are cheaper to build than conventional telephone networks. IP technology also allows several users to share the same line. Cheaper phone rates are the result although voice quality is often inferior to that of regular phones.
Shares in NTT were unchanged at 492,000 yen by midday, compared with a 0.70 per cent drop in the Nikkei average. Bureau Report