December 17, 2019 Final Report of Information and Communications Council on Assessment of State of Competition in Telecommunications Business Field (Inquiry No. 25 of 2018)

The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) received the final report from the Information and Communications Council (Chaired by Takeshi Uchiyamada, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Toyota Motor Corporation) on an assessment of the state of competition in the telecommunications business field. The outline of the report is specified below.

1. Background

MIC consulted the Information and Communication Council on the assessment of the state of competition in the telecommunications business field on August 23, 2018. This matter was deliberated by the Telecommunications Business Policy Committee (chaired by Hirotaka Yamauchi, Specially Appointed Professor, Graduate School of Business Administration, Department of Business Administration, Hitotsubashi University) and the Special Committee on Comprehensive Verification of Competition Rules in the Telecommunications Business Field (chief investigator: Hirotaka Yamauchi, Specially Appointed Professor, Graduate School of Business Administration, Department of Business Administration, Hitotsubashi University) both under the Information and Communications Council. The report was finalized at the General Meeting of the Information and Communication Council today.

2. Summary and text of the report

The final report is intended to further embody the direction of the telecommunications business policy for around 2030, which was set out in the interim report in August this year. The report proposes items to be addressed in the telecommunications business field in the future to respond to changes in the social structure, such as population decline, changes in the market structure due to the progress of globalization, and technological innovations, including network virtualization and 5G services.

3. Future plans

MIC will take necessary measures in response to the final report.