Noting
the effect of wireless substitution, the rapid rise of VoIP, and
increased competition in both residential and business markets
from fixed line competitors, NTT East said it would accelerate
efforts to offer optical IP phone services. The company will
devote itself "to efficiently building optical access
networks as an infrastructure for broadband services and to
ensuring reliability in the field of telecommunications. "
In the coming year through March 2006, the actual number of ADSL
contracts at NTT East is expected to fall, while B-FLETS optical
connections reach one million circuits. For the ongoing optical
access build out, NTT East forecasting CAPEX of 170 billion yen,
up from 130 billion in the preceding year.
NTT East
-- Service Profiles though March 2006
Source:
NTT
Similarly, NTT West sees the fiscal year ending in March 2006 as
critical to its strategy to achieve a dramatic increase in users
of its optical access and IP services. NTT West will also push
its Fiber-optic IP Connection service, aiming to have 800,000 B-FLET's
optical access subscribers by next March, up from 400,000 today.
Its number of ADSL subscribers is also forecast to fall due to
the move to optical access.
NTT West plans to spend 160 billion yen for the optical access
build-out through March 2006, up from 150 billion yen this year.
NTT
West -- Service Profiles though March 2006
Source:
NTT
http://www.ntt.co.jpIn November 2004, Japan's NTT Group outlined its plans to migrate a majority of its customers to a next generation optical access and IP telephony network by 2010. This "medium-term management strategy" is aimed at advancing the company's long-term "Vision for a New Optical Generation," which NTT first disclosed in November 2002. Some specifics of the plan included:
- NTT intends to migrate the majority of its customers to an optical access network by 2010, taking into account the interests of customers and operators of related businesses. The company said maintaining both metal wire and optical fiber access and fixed telephone networks, as well as IP networks, is a burden on business operations and increases the cost to society.
- NTT will promote IP telephone services as an alternative to fixed line service and provide a variety of ubiquitous broadband services emphasizing high-speed and interactive features in order to shift 30 million customers from the existing metal wire and fixed telephone network to optical fiber access and next-generation network services by 2010.
- NTT will move to a flat-rate pricing structure which is not based distances, that gives customers service options that meet their requirements for quality, speed (data volume), reliability and security levels, and with varied rates depending on service content.
- NTT is currently reevaluating its existing fixed-telephone rates (basic rate, call rates, equipment installation rates) in light of the eventual move to IP telephony. It plans to announce a revision to its basic rates and other fees as a first step in this direction.
- NTT will promote Fixed-Mobile Convergence, whereby high-speed interactive video communications over optical fiber will be combined with mobile communications services to provide ubiquitous services that can be accessed from PCs, TV sets, mobile telephones or information appliances. Its next-generation network will be based on a common service foundation that merges mobile and fixed communications. Each NTT group company will fill a role that plays to their strengths.
