Second liberalization in Japan

The Japanese government revised the Public Telecommunications Law and issued the relevant Act and Ordinance on 23 October 1982. Ten years have passed since the first liberalization opened up the public networks for data communication. The newly revised Law paves the way for more liberal use of leased circuits and networks from Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Public Corporation (NTT). Further, it permits activities of specialized telecommunications service agencies to compete with the government-owned and monopolized NTT in the domestic data communication market. Industrial and financial circles have demanded both, as they would like to spread their computer communication networks more extensively, and offer some specialized telecommunication services within their own community. The historical and social background to this remarkable liberalization were discussed in a recent article in Telecommunications Policy.