October 29, 2004

Ministry of Internal Affairs and
Communications


MIC announces areas for analog frequency conversion in November for the start of terrestrial digital broadcasting



The MIC has announced the areas, as shown below, that will start frequency conversion in November.

The frequency conversion, which started in February 2003, has been completed in 232 areas as of the end of October 2004. In terms of households, about 1.69 million households (about 40% of the total) have had the conversion completed. The process is currently moving ahead smoothly according to plan.

From November, work will start in Miyagi, Shimane and Yamaguchi Prefectures.

Areas for analog frequency conversion in November (37 areas, about 102,000 households):
Tohoku: 1 area in 1 prefecture (Miyagi Prefecture)
Shines: 2 areas in 1 prefecture (Nagano Prefecture)
Chugoku: 11 areas in 4 prefectures (Tottori Prefecture, Shimane Prefecture, Hiroshima Prefecture, and Yamaguchi Prefecture)
Shikoku: 4 areas in 3prefectures (Tokushima Prefecture, Kagawa Prefecture, and Ehime Prefecture)
Kyushu: 19 areas in 6 prefectures (Fukuoka Prefecture, Saga Prefecture, Nagasaki Prefecture, Kumamoto Prefecture, Oita Prefecture, and Kagoshima Prefecture)

For details refer to the Japanese web site
http://www.soumu.go.jp/s-news/2004/041029_6.html

For further information about this press release, please contact:

International Policy Division, International Affairs Department
Telecommunications Bureau
Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications
Tel: (03) 5253-5920 Fax: (03) 5253-5924

Or visit
http://www.soumu.go.jp/joho_tsusin/eng/contact.html to fill in the inquiry form.