June 17, 2025 Inquiry to Information and Communications Council regarding "Ideal State of Telecommunications Number System for Countermeasures, etc. against Criminal Use of Telephone Numbers"

　Today, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) submitted an inquiry to the Information and Communications Council (chaired by ENDO Nobuhiro) on the ideal state of the telecommunications number system for countermeasures, etc. against the criminal use of telephone numbers.

1. Background, etc.

　In recent years, an increasing number of telecommunications carriers that have been approved by the Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications for a telecommunications numbers usage plan have been arrested, prosecuted, and sentenced to prison for aiding and abetting special fraud, which has become a social problem.
　Therefore, based on the final report of the "Ideal State of Telecommunications Number System for Migrating to IP Networks, etc." which examined drastic measures against criminal use of telecommunications numbers, the Telecommunications Business Act (Act No. 86 of 1984) has been amended in 2025 as follows (hereinafter referred to as the "2025 Amendment to the Act"). The following is a summary of the amendment.
　(1) Add persons who have been sentenced for fraud, etc. to the disqualification grounds for approval of telecommunications number usage plans.
　(2) Add the prospect of the applicant's continued services, etc. as criteria for approval of a telecommunications number usage plan.
　(3) Impose on telecommunications carriers that provide wholesale telecommunications services using telecommunications numbers the obligation to confirm that wholesale destination businesses meet certain requirements.

　The 2025 Amendment to the Act stipulates that the types of telecommunications numbers subject to regulation, the method of fulfilling the confirmation obligation when providing wholesale telecommunications services using telecommunications numbers, and other items are to be regulated in the MIC Ordinance. Therefore, the matters necessary to provide these regulations need to be discussed.
　In addition, since the 2025 Amendment to the Act is a broad revision of the system that includes content other than measures against the criminal use of telephone numbers, it is necessary to examine the telecommunications number system to ensure consistency with the content of the 2025 Amendment to the Act.
　Accordingly, we hereby submit this inquiry on the telecommunications number system for countermeasures, etc. against the criminal use of telephone numbers.

2. Matters that should be included in the report

Ideal state of telecommunications number system for countermeasures, etc. against the criminal use of telephone numbers

3. Preferred timing for reporting

Around November 2025