June 30, 2009

Invitation of Public Comment Concerning Application of the
Competition Safeguard System (Fiscal 2009)

Prior to regular verification to be conducted under the Competition Safeguard System, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) invites public comment, as follows, on verification items until July 31, 2009.

Purpose
Based on the New Competition Promotion Program 2010 (developed and released in September 2006, revised in October 2007 and again in June 2009) and the Guidelines for Application of the Competition Safeguard System (hereinafter “Guidelines”) developed and released in April 2007 and revised in July 2008, a competition safeguard system, intended to periodically check the validity of the scope of the designated telecommunications facilities system and accumulated fair competition requirements concerning the NTT group (including those related to the Regulatory Frameworks Pertaining to Authorization of Business Activities Using Facilities, Technologies or Staff of NTT East and NTT West), has been placed in force since fiscal 2007.

MIC released the Results of Verification (FY2008) of the Competition Safeguard System on February 25, 2009 and required that NTT East and NTT West take required steps based thereupon.

Prior to conducting the verification and for reference in its future verification efforts, MIC invites public comment as to the validity of applying the system to the items that are to be verified under the guidelines.

+++++++++++++++
For further information about this press release, please fill in the inquiry form and submit it to MIC on the website
http://www.soumu.go.jp/joho_tsusin/eng/contact.html

International Policy Division,
Global ICT Strategy Bureau, MIC
TEL: +81 3 5253 5920 / FAX: +81 3 5253 5924