August 19, 2020 Installation Status of Fixed Terminal System Transmission Line Facilities as of End of FY2019

The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) received reports from telecommunications carriers on the installation status of fixed terminal system transmission line facilities as of the end of fiscal 2019 (end of March 2020) based on Paragraph 1, Article 3 of the Rules for Reporting on Telecommunications Business (Ministerial Ordinance of MPT No. 46 of 1988). Accordingly, MIC has decided to announce its aggregate results.

1. Purpose

MIC obligates telecommunications carriers engaged in installing transmission line facilities for fixed terminals* to report the installation status as of the end of each fiscal year, based on Article 3, Paragraph 1 of the Rules for Reporting on Telecommunications Business.
Recently, MIC summarized the report content of each telecommunications carrier on the installation status as of the end of 2019. Accordingly, MIC has decided to open the same to the public.

• *
  Transmission line facilities (hereafter referred to as “subscriber lines”) in which one end of the transmission line equipment, including a telephone line, is connected to the user’s telecommunications equipment installed in a specific place.

2. Summary of results

The summary of the aggregated results is shown below. Hereafter, East Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation and West Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation are referred to as “NTT East” and “NTT West,” respectively, in the number of installed subscriber lines. NTT East and NTT West are collectively referred to as NTT East/West.

1. NTT East/West share of the number of subscriber lines installed

• 1.
  The NTT East/West share of subscriber lines at FY2019 end declined (74.5% at FY2018 end → 73.4% at FY2019 end [down 1.1 percentage points]). This down was mainly due to a decrease in the ratio of metal lines (two-wire type), which were almost monopolized by NTT East/West Japan (96.8%), to the entire subscriber lines (40.1% at FY2018 end → 37.9% at FY2019 end).
• 2.
  Both NTT East share and NTT West share of subscriber lines declined. (NTT East: 79.2% at FY2018 end → 78.5% at FY2019 end ［down 0.7 percentage point］; NTT West: 69.9% at FY2018 end → 68.4% at FY2019 end ［down 1.5 percentage point］).
• 3.
  On a prefecture-by-prefecture basis, the NTT East/West shares of subscriber lines exceeded 50% in all prefectures. However, the shares in the following five prefectures remained in the 50% range: Hyogo (55.4%), Nara (57.7%), Shiga (57.0%), Osaka (59.3%), and Mie (59.5%).

2. NTT East/West share of the number of optical fiber lines installed

• 1.
  The NTT East/West share of optical fiber lines at FY2019 end declined due to the influence of electric power companies and regional CATV operators. (76.1% at FY2018 end → 75.2% at FY2019 end [down 0.9 percentage points]).
• 2.
  Both NTT East share and NTT West share of optical fiber lines declined. This tendency is more significant in western Japan. (NTT East: 90.6% at FY2018 end → 90.2% at FY2019 end ［down 0.4 percentage point］; NTT West: 62.8% at FY2018 end → 61.5% at FY2019 end ［down 1.3 percentage point］).
• 3.
  On a prefecture-by-prefecture basis, the share in each of the following five prefectures was below 50%: Mie (40.2%), Shiga (41.1%), Nara (42.6%), Tokushima (45.9%), Aichi (46.7%).