September 3, 2024 Results of Public Solicitation on "Draft Report of the Sub-Working Group on the Establishment of Quality Measurement Methods for Fixed Broadband Services" and "Draft Guideline on Quality Measurement Methods for Fixed Broadband Services," and Publication of the Report and Guideline

The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) has made a public solicitation for opinions on a "Draft Report of the Sub-Working Group on the Establishment of Quality Measurement Methods for Fixed Broadband Services" (hereinafter referred to as the "Draft Report") and a “Draft Guideline on Quality Measurement Methods for Fixed Broadband Services" (hereinafter referred to as the "Draft Guideline") from Friday, May 17 to Monday, June 17, 2024, and based on the opinions submitted, formulated the "Report of the Sub-Working Group on the Establishment of Quality Measurement Methods for Fixed Broadband Services" and the “Guideline on Quality Measurement Methods for Fixed Broadband Services" (hereinafter referred to as the "Report and Guideline") for publication together with the results of the public solicitation.

1. Outline

In Japan, the spread of COVID-19 has triggered a rapid proliferation of digital services that enable traditional activities to turn to non-face-to-face or non-contact activities, such as web conferencing, telework, remote classes, and remote medical examination. For the stable use of these services, fixed broadband services are essential and have come to play an increasingly important role in supporting socio-economic activities and people's lives, and while there is a demand to ensure even higher service quality, a certain number of complaints and inquiries have been made every year from consumers about slow communication speed and poor connection (at certain times of the day).
Digital services on the Internet such as web conferencing are provided through a variety of operators including ISPs, IX operators and service providers, in addition to operators who provide access lines. As the quality of fixed broadband services, which are access lines, is affected by the form of connection between these operators and the state of communication facilities, no method has been established to date for measuring the communication quality of fixed broadband services.
Against this background, a "Sub-Working Group on the Establishment of Quality Measurement Methods for Fixed Broadband Services" (Chaired by HIRANO Susumu, Dean and Professor of the Faculty of International Informatics, Chuo University) was launched in December 2020 to discuss fair, impartial and efficient methods for measuring the quality of fixed broadband services, as well as ways to provide information to consumers, and compiled a draft report and draft guideline in May 2024.
The MIC called for public opinions on the draft report and guideline between May 17 and June 17, 2024, and received 57 opinions. Accordingly, we announce the results of the public solicitation and publish the report and guideline that have been formulated based on the submitted public opinions.

2. Opinions submitted

The opinions submitted and the interpretation of these opinions are as shown in Appendix 1 (PDF).

3. The report and guideline based on the results of the public solicitation

The report and guideline that reflect the submitted opinions are as follows:

Report of Sub-Working Group on the Establishment of Quality Measurement Methods for Fixed Broadband Services (Appendix 2 [PDF])
Guideline on Quality Measurement Methods for Fixed Broadband Services (Appendix 3 (PDF))