Telecommunications Council 15th General Meeting Summary of Minutes


  1. Date and time
    Tuesday, August 1, 2006 14:00 - 15:16

  2. Location
    First Special Conference Room, MIC (8th floor, MIC)

  3. Attendees (Honorifics omitted)

    (1) Telecommunications Business Division members
    Etsuhiko Shoyama (Division Director), Yasuhiko Osamura, Keiko Kiyohara, Shigeki Goto, Yoshinori Sakai,
    Masao Sakauchi, Kaori Sasaki, Eiichi Shimizu, Chika Sekine, Nobuko Takahashi, Fumio Takahata,
    Kazuteru Tagaya, Nami Takenaka, Masatsugu Tsuji, Norihisa Doi, Miwako Doi, Mikio Toukai,
    Masao Nakagawa, Miki Nagata, Yoshiaki Nemoto, Akira Mitarai, Kumiko Miyazaki, Teruyasu Murakami,
    Yusuke Yasuda
    (2) Temporary Member
    Jun Murai
    (Total of 25 members)
    (3) Secretary
    Yamane, Director, General Affairs Division, Information and Communications Policy Bureau
    (4) MIC
    Takenaka, Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications; Matsuda, Vice Minister;
    Aritomi, Vice-Minister for Policy Coordination; Shimizu, Vice-Minister for Policy Coordination;
    Suzuki, Director-General of the Information and Communications Policy Bureau;
    Mori, Director-General of the Telecommunications Bureau;
    Matsumoto, Director-General for Technology Policy Coordination;
    Terasaki, Director-General for Policy Planning; Yamagawa, Director-General; Nakada, Deputy Director General; Sakurai, Director-General of the Radio Department;
    Minami, Director, Broadcasting Policy Division; Ando, Director, Terrestrial Broadcasting Division; Yoshida, Senior Planning Officer, Terrestrial Broadcasting Division; Takeda, Director, Satellite and International Broadcasting Division;
    Watanabe, Director, Telecommunication Systems Division; Miyamoto, Director, Numbering Plan Office; Inoue, Director, Economic Research Office
    There were also other attendees from the MIC


  4. Agenda

    (1) Optimal utilization of terrestrial digital broadcasting and roles of administration toward the penetration thereof
    [Inquiry No. 8 of January 28, 2006]

    As a result of deliberations, it was decided that the Telecommunications Council will make the third interim report as proposed by the Information and Communications Policy Committee. Mr. Shoyama, Division Director of the Telecommunications Council, handed the report to Minister Takenaka of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.

    [Summary]
          Specific suggestions were made including the three main points below:
    •            Matters pertaining to shaping the relay station roadmap and the utilization of complementary means
    •            Matters pertaining to the penetration of receivers and ensuring of convenience
    •            Matters pertaining to the diversification of content
    (2) Promotion measures for "International TV Broadcasting for Foreigners"
    [Inquiry No. 10]

    After consideration, it was decided that in order to conduct deliberations in an effective and agile manner, the deliberations should be performed by the Information and Communications Policy Committee, which handles basic as well as comprehensive policies on the matter and thus has accumulated expert knowledge in a wide range of fields.

    [Summary]
       Concerns the deliberations on the framework and promotion measures for the early realization of Japan's international TV broadcasting for foreigners, which is considered necessary to reinforce Japan's efforts to provide information to the world through television broadcasting.
    (3) Partial amendment to the Standing Orders of the Telecommunications Council
      With the progress in the move to IP networks, a host of new services including FMC, a convergence of fixed communications and mobile communications, are expected to appear. With this in the background, in order to respond to policy issues in an appropriate and timely manner, it was decided that "inquiries that require studies on systems concerning telecommunications numbers" should be added to the matters to be solely decided by the Telecommunications Business Division.
    (4)  Status of deliberations by the Information and Communications Technology Sub-Council
     The record of meetings held since last July was reported and accepted.
    (5)  Status of deliberations by the Telecommunications Business Division
     The record of meetings held since last July was reported and accepted.
    (6)  Status of deliberations by the Cable Broadcasting Committee
     The record of meetings held since last July was reported and accepted.
    (7)  2006 status report on information and communications
     There was a report from the MIC.