July 10, 2003,Vol. 14, No. 7 ISSN 1346-5317

The following people attended the meeting:
Japan: Mr. ISHIDA, Director-General, International AffairsDepartment, MPHPT; Mr. ASAMI, Director, International Cooperation Division,International Affairs Department, MPHPT; and, three other officials fromMPHPT;
Mr. WATANABE, Director for International Affairs, Commerceand Information Policy Bureau, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry(METI); one other official from METI; and, 10 people from the private sector
China: Mr. Chen Yin, Deputy Director-General, ForeignAffairs Department, MII; Mr. Zhang Xinsheng, Deputy Director-General, Scienceand Technology Department, MII; eight other officials; and, five peoplefrom the private sector
Korea: Mr. Yang Jun-cheol, Director General, InternationalCooperation Bureau, MIC; Mr. Kim In-soo, Director, International OrganizationDivision, MIC; other officials; and, people from the private sector includingETRI (26 people in total)

The Meeting of China-Japan-Korea ICT Working Group atDG Level has been held since 2001 for promoting harmonization and cooperationin ICT policy between the three parties. The first meeting was convenedby Japan (Okayama Prefecture), the second by China (Kunming) and the third,this time, was hosted by Korea. The Japanese delegation consisted of MPHPT,METI and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA).

At the third meeting, the three countries deliberatedupon progress reports and desirable future collaboration among the threein 11 fields (Governmental Policies on the Telecom Market under the WTOenvironment; Governmental Broadband Policies; 3G; Network and InformationSecurity; IPv6; Open Software; Digital Content; e-Government & e-Commerce;Digitalization of Asian Cultural Heritage; Standardization Research <4G,NGN, IPv6 etc.>; and International Organizations <ITU, APEC, ASEAN+3,etc.>). The three countries agreed to i) promote joint research betweenresearch institutes and industrial circles, in addition to intergovernmentalcooperation, and ii) actively support such efforts for developing standards.The three parties came to compile a Memorandum of Understanding.

This time, agenda items, such as the "Digitalization ofAsian Cultural Heritage" and "Open Software," were deliberated anew. Thenext meeting will be hosted by Japan in 2004.
 
 
 
 

From left, Mr. TAKESHITA,Deputy Director, Standardization Division, Information and CommunicationsPolicy Bureau; Mr. ASAMI, Director, International Cooperation Division;and Mr. ISHIDA, Director-General, International Affairs Department

Since 1997 MPHPT and the Finnish Ministry of Transportand Communications have been holding the Japan-Finland Policy Dialoguewith the aim of exchanging information/opinions in the IT field. On June17, 2003, the Sixth Japan-Finland Policy Dialogue was convened in Finland.Participants from Japan included Mr. ISHIDA Naohiro, Director-General,International Affairs Department, Telecommunications Bureau, MPHPT, andfour other officials; Finnish participants include Mr. Harri Pursiainen,Director General, Communications Department, Ministry of Transport andCommunications, Finland, and six other officials. The following agendaitems were actively discussed and opinions were exchanged in a friendlyatmosphere.
 

Sixth Japan-Finland PolicyDialogue

[Agenda items and outcomes]
1. ICT policies
At the beginning of the meeting, the Finnish side explainedthe "Information Society Policy," the Finnish ICT strategy in line withthe "e-Europe 2005," illustrating goals, that i) all Finnish people willbe enabled to have access to the high-speed Internet, ii) network securitywill be strengthened, ii) access with ease-of-use to information possessedby public organizations will be enabled through promotion of e-governments,iv) ICT literacy of Finnish people will be raised, workforces with ICTskill will be fostered, and others.
In addition, they introduced some statistical data onbroadband, including the maximum speed of ADSL (2 Mbps), the rate of homespassed by fiber-optic cables (98%) and the PC penetration rate (57%). Oneof the goals of the Finnish government is to raise the rate of householdshaving access to broadband platforms from current 70% to 100% by 2005.
From the Japanese side, explanations were offered concerningthe review of the "e-Japan Strategy," including the promotion scheme forthe ICT strategy, basic concepts, major efforts and preparation of newsocial infrastructures.
At the Q&A session, the Japanese side asked reasonswhy the rate of homes passed by fiber-optic cables is so high, and theFinnish side replied that the total number of populations in rural areasis extremely small, therefore, when urban areas are passed by fiber-opticcables, almost all populations are covered.
Both sides agreed that from now on in order to realizean information society for all through promotion of actual use of well-preparedinfrastructures, both countries shall strengthen collaborative ties andexchange opinions.

2. Pro-competitive policies
Japan explained policies for encouraging competition,focusing on content of the Bill to Amend the Telecommunications BusinessLaw.
Following the Japanese side, the Finnish side explainedthe legislative process of the Communications Market Act, etc. for implementingthe EU Directives. Although many member states of the EU have difficultiesin complying the Directives by the limit of July 25, 2003, Finland hasalready finished the necessary legislation and other legislative amendments,thus those laws and regulations will be in force in July 2003 as set forthby the Directives. Also explanations were made on general obligations tobe imposed on service providers and obligations on carriers with dominantmarket power, and procedures for defining markets, among others. As forthe number portability, since the European Commission obliged member statesto implement the portability, the Finnish government will implement thisobligation, however, with little enthusiasm.
At the Q&A session, with respect to new frameworksfor competition and the real situation/frameworks for consumer protection,active information exchanges were made. For instance, the Finnish sideput a question to the Japanese side on the method for designating dominantcarriers and the progress of deliberations upon the Bill to Amend the TelecommunicationsBusiness Law at the Diet, the Japanese side asked the Finnish side on influencesof IP telephony. The Finnish side stated that the review of market competitionassessment would start from August 2003. Both parties agreed that the twocountries should make collaborative efforts to further promote fair competition.

3. IPv6
The Japanese side explained major efforts to addressIPv6 such as a plan to shift from IPv4 to IPv6. The Finnish side introducedthe current situation concerning IPv6, that i) the unit in charge of IPv6is the Finnish Communications Regulatory Authority (FICORA), ii) FICORAestablished a working group for introducing IPv6, iii) all telecommunicationscarriers are implementing experiments to introduce IPv6, iv) IPv6 willbe introduced in 2005 on a full-fledged scale, v) IPv4 addresses are forecastto be run out around 2009, and vi) the EU established a task force to copewith IPv6.
Overall, both parties agreed that the two countries shouldcontinue to exchange opinions on R&D into IPv6.

4. Mobile communications
The Japanese side explained the current penetration statusof mobile communications, the penetration rate of the mobile Internet,the deployment status of various mobile communications services and thefuture availability thereof. 
The Finnish side told that i) Telia Mobile was sold tothe Finnet Group in June 2003, ii) commercial 3G services are facing difficultiesto start, and iii) hearings from 3G mobile carriers will be held. The Finnishside introduced an IP-based data communications service, the IP DatacastTrial Network, that will distribute data to various terminals over thefrequencies of the Finnish Broadcasting Company, a Finnish public broadcastersimilar to Japan's NHK. This service will be licensed around 2005 and availablefor cellular telephone terminals.
At the Q&A session, in response to a question fromthe Finnish side on reasons why the 3G services in Japan are gaining greaterpopularity, the Japanese side illustrated factors for success, includingexpansion of service areas, improvement of battery units, reduction ofcharges for packet data and many diversified terminals.
As a whole, with regard to concerted efforts for realizingmobile multimedia and 4G mobile systems (systems beyond IMT-2000), thetwo sides agreed to encourage joint meetings of specialists on a regularbasis to be held by the mobile IT Forum (mITF) of Japan and FICORA.

5. Digitalization of broadcasting
Upon exchange of opinions on digitalization of broadcastingin the two countries, the Finnish side said that i) terrestrial digitalbroadcasting has already started, however, it is very difficult to terminateanalog broadcasting by the end of 2006, ii) the number of set-top boxessold to date is 120,000, and 20% of which are based on the MHP standard. 
In response to a question from the Japanese side concerningdiscussions on digitalization of broadcasting, the Finnish side explainedthat i) there is criticism that manufacturers are reluctant to developnecessary equipment, and ii) there are trends to subsidize unprofitableareas by local governments.
The two sides agreed that the two countries should continueto closely exchange information and, in particular, strengthen collaborativeefforts to promote penetration of terrestrial digital broadcasting.

6. WSIS
Both sides exchanged opinions/information on activitiesof relevant countries/economies at the Asia-Pacific Regional Conferencefor WSIS held in Tokyo and the Pan-European Regional Conference held inBucharest. The two sides agreed to maintain collaborative relationshipstoward successes of the WSIS official drafting meeting, WSIS - IntersessionalMeeting, to be held in Paris in July 2003, the WSIS - PrepCom-3 in September2003 and WSIS in December 2003.

7. Next Policy Dialogue
It was agreed to convene the next Policy Dialogue spring2004 and to discuss details on agenda thereof, etc. at the working levelof the two sides.
 

Mr. ISHIDA, Director-General, InternationalAffairs Department (right) and Ms. Kristiina Pietik?inen, Head of Unit,E-commerce and Data Security

 
 

Since December 2002, MPHPT has been holding a series ofmeetings of the "Study Group on Tariff Setting" (Chair: Prof. FUNADA Masayuki,Law Department, College of Law and Politics, Rikkyo University) for deliberatingupon the tariff settings concerning relay connections and calls from IPtelephones to cellular telephones.
To date, the tariff settings for calls from fixed telephonesto cellular telephones have been made by cellular telephone carriers. Inresponse to an application for award that was filed with the MPHPT Ministerfrom HEISEI DENDEN CO., LTD. concerning calls from fixed telephones tocellular telephones via subscriber local loop of HEISEI DENDEN, the Ministerin November 2002 made an award as to the appropriateness of HEISEI DENDEN(installing its own local loop facilities) being vested with the rightof tariff setting.
As for relay interconnection, the Minister did not makean award considering that negotiations between HEISEI DENDEN and NTT hadnot been sufficiently carried out. However, the negotiations may fail tocome to a conclusion. The Telecommunications Business Dispute SettlementCommission, which was inquired of this case by the Minister prior to theaward, recommended that MPHPT consider optimal tariff setting and establishframeworks for tariff setting. The Study Group held meetings seven timesstarting from the first meeting on December 19, 2002, for deliberatingupon tariff setting for calls from IP telephones to cellular telephones.
From the viewpoint of ensuring transparency in the policymakingprocess, in April 2002, MPHPT invited public comments for one month.
The report this time was compiled taking opinions/commentsfiled by many stakeholders.
 
 
 

The number of households subscribing to cable TV facilitieswith permission engaged in self-originated broadcasting (as of the endof FY2002) was 15.14 million, an increase of 2.14 million households overthe previous fiscal year (+16.5%). The penetration rate to all householdsbecame 31.2%, an increase of 4.4 percentage points over the previous fiscalyear.

Trends in number of householdssubscribing to cable TV facilities with permission engaged in self-originatedbroadcasting and penetration rate

Note: Figures indicate data as of the end of each fiscalyear. Figures in parentheses indicate growth rates of the number of householdssubscribing compared to the previous fiscal year. Penetration rates arecalculated from the number of households in the Residents Basic Ledgeras of the end of each fiscal year (as for the data for FY2002, the numberof households as of the end of FY2001 was used instead). 

Trends in number of cable TVfacilities with permission engaged in self-originated broadcasting 

Note: Figures indicate data as of the end of each fiscalyear. Figures in parentheses indicate growth rates of the number of facilitiescompared to the previous fiscal year. 

Trends in number of cable TVoperators having facilities with permission engaged in self-originatedbroadcasting

* 1.: Figures indicate data as of the end of each fiscalyear. Figures in parentheses indicate growth rates of the number of cableTV operators compared to the previous fiscal year.
*2.: The number of cable TV operators until FY1999 wasthe total of figures obtained from the Regional Bureaus of Posts and Telecommunications.
Note: Facilities with permission include facilities thatwere registered under the Law Concerning Broadcast on TelecommunicationsService (law concerning broadcast through use of telecommunications service)and were employing the same grade of broadcasting methods as those of approvedcable TV facilities under the Cable Television Broadcast Law.

Number of households subscribingto cable TV
The number of households subscribing to cable TV was23.33 million, a 9.8% increase over the previous fiscal year.

Type		FY2001	FY2002	Increase	Growth rate (%)
Cable TV in total		21,254,228	23,332,218	2,077,990	9.8%
Facilities engagedin self-originated broadcasting	Facilities with permission	12,997,568	15,138,168	2,140,600	16.5%
	Facilities with notification	31,938	27,763	-4,175	-13.1%
	Subtotal	13,029,506	15,165,931	2,136,425	16.4%
Facilities engagedin simultaneous retransmission only	Facilities with permission	2,098,475	2,044,024	-54,451	-2.6%
	Facilities with notification	5,366,526	5,359,759	-6,767	-0.1%
	Small-scale facilities with notification	759,721	762,504	2,783	0.4%
	Subtotal	8,224,722	8,166,287	-58,435	-0.7%

- Facilities with permission: having 501 drop terminals ormore
- Facilities with notification: having 51 or more and500 or less drop terminals
- Small-scale facilities with notification: having 50or less drop terminals