Interesting People mailing list archives
IP: Tokyo Watching
From: Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>
Date: Sun, 02 Mar 1997 15:44:52 -0500
Date: Thu, 27 Feb 1997 10:59:44 +0900 To: Dave Farber <farber () central cis upenn edu> From: sja () glocom ac jp (Stephen J. Anderson) Subject: Presidential Advisory Committee-Tokyo Watching Congratulations on your appointment, and best of luck with the discussions. I am watching the web postings from Tokyo, and look forward to more information about the committee discussing NGI among other topics. In Japan, the politics of the telecommunications involve more mundane horse-trading over the restructuring of NTT and its bureaucratic handlers. I won't even use the word "regulators" because it fails to convey the cozy relationship of how both sides benefit from appearing at odds. I do believe that they disagree, but I also see NTT as riding herd on the matters of technology and business that matter in Japan. Here's a editing of a post I made to our listserv this morning; feel free to post as you see fit: On the issues of the politics of telecom in Japan, it seems that the high politics always start with NTT (a company with operating revenues of about 5 trillion yen--$50 billion). This number is well under the 15 trillion yen limit proposed by the Diet, which makes me wonder about a renewed relationship of NTT Data, NTT Mobile, and other NTT family companies that might relate throught the holding company. NTT resisted division in 1989-90, then delayed again in 1995-96, and now decided its own fate under a holding company scheme. NTT politics are now focused on the deliberations in the Diet. The tax issues of restructuring will be debated by the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) under their Tax Affairs Policy Committee and will involve forgiveness of taxes involved in splitting NTT. This tax settlement will determine the initial finances of the three new firms--NTT still has many irons in the fire. At the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, bureaucrats are not losers in the deals. MPT wants several things, and with division of NTT and the emergence of NCC and new ventures, the bureaucrats get the added competition that they desire in order to transform telecoms in Japan. Competition (as managed by the bureaucrats) is precisely what they see as a means to enhance their powers in the new world order. What is at question, though, is how much management these officials will exercise, and to what ends? Can they really create a vision of "info-communications" or "teletopia" or whatever this week's muddy policy planning concept is projecting? The test of brokerage between NTT and MPT is whether both can get their deal through the Diet. Yesterday's ludicrous exchange in the Diet where MPT political head, Minister Horinouchi Hisao, said that postal savings should never be privatized is telling. This conservative politician has views at odds with critics among politicians such as former MPT and current MHW Minister, Koizumi Junichiro. Koizumi has long urged privatization of postal savings (theworld's largest bank) and now gets trashed by his fellow LDP cabinet member--this reflects the deeply entrenched interests of MPT. I believe, as do some Japanese colleagues at GLOCOM and on the Prime Minister's Economic Council, that MPT must give up some regulatory power to a commission under the Prime Minister's office--in other words, an OFTEL or FCC-equivalent organization. This may not happen, but it seems a key bellwhether of reform under the current government as regards to information technology and communications policy. By summer, there should be final decisions as both the Big Bang in finance, and the closely related little buzz in telecoms, are finalized in the Diet. **************************************** Stephen J. Anderson Associate Professor URL http://www.glocom.ac.jp/staff/anderson.e.html Tel: (+81-3) 5411-6698 Fax: (+81-3) 5412-7111 Center for Global Communications (GLOCOM) International University of Japan ****************************************
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- IP: Tokyo Watching Dave Farber (Mar 02)