September 25, 2020 Release of Fourth Report of Study Group on Calculation of Interconnection Charges and Guidelines for Verification of Wholesale Charges for Designated Equipment Wholesale Services

The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) made an appeal for opinions from Thursday, July 23 through Wednesday, August 26, 2020, on the fourth report drafted by the Study Group on Calculation of Interconnection Charges (chaired by TSUJI Masatsugu, President and Professor at Kobe International University), along with guidelines for the verification of wholesale charges for designated equipment wholesale services drafted by MIC based on the drafted fourth report. As a result, MIC received twelve opinions and nine opinions on the draft report and the draft guidelines.
Considering the opinions submitted to each draft, along with MIC’s views on the opinions, MIC has finalized and released the fourth report of the Study Group on Calculation of Interconnection Charges and the guidelines for the verification of wholesale charges for designated equipment wholesale services.

1. Background

MIC organized the Study Group on Calculation of Interconnection Charges* in March 2017. Since then, the Study Group has been deliberating on the interconnection system, which is the basis for ensuring fair competition. In this way, various services can be provided smoothly in a fair competition environment.
The Study Group issued the third report in September 2019. After that, the Study Group held ten meetings up to September 2020. While listening to the opinions of related businesses and business organizations as observers, the Study Group’s discussions and verifications continued, focusing on the status of efforts to work on various issues listed in the third report. The Information and Communications Council issued the final report on assessing competition in the telecommunications business field in December 2020. With consideration of the final report, the Study Group started deliberating on the ideal state of wholesale telecommunications services using class I designated telecommunications equipment or class II designated telecommunications equipment at the 27th meeting that was held in December 2019.
Recently, the Study Group drafted the fourth report based on the results of its study. Considering the draft report, MIC drafted the guidelines for verifying wholesale charges for designated equipment wholesale services. Then MIC made an appeal for opinions on the drafts and received twelve opinions and nine opinions on the draft report and the draft guidelines.
Considering the opinions submitted to each draft, along with MIC’s views on the opinions, MIC has finalized and released the fourth report of the Study Group on Calculation of Interconnection Charges and the guidelines for the verification of wholesale charges for designated equipment wholesale services.

• *
  The name was changed from the Study Group on Calculation of Interconnection Charges in December 2019.

2. Report

The fourth report of the Study Group on Calculation of Interconnection Charges, the opinions submitted, and MIC’s views on the opinions are in the reference material.

3. Guidelines

The guidelines that MIC made, the opinions submitted, and MIC’s views on the opinions are also in the reference material.

4. Method for obtaining references

Reference information will be posted on the public comment page of the e-Gov (https://www.e-gov.go.jp/ ).