A national association of telecommunications equipment suppliers has asked the Japanese and U.S. governments Wednesday not to extend a bilateral pact obligating Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. to procure foreign-made products.
The 1980 Japan-U.S. NTT procurement agreement expires at the end of this month; the next day Japan's telecommunications giant splits into a holding company and three separate firms in a state effort to reinvigorate the telecommunications market through competition.
The government owns most of NTT's shares.
The Communications Industry Association of Japan, the largest telecom equipment group in the nation, submitted a written request to the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo and to the Japanese government offices concerned, CIAJ officials told a press conference.
Early next week, the two governments are to resume talks in the U.S. to decide whether to extend the agreement.
The two sides are currently deadlocked, with Washington insisting on the need for a government-level arrangement to promote a market favoring competition and Tokyo claiming the 1980 arrangement has already laid the necessary groundwork.
Meanwhile, the CIAJ maintains that the government- negotiated arrangement no longer fits the liberalization currents of the Japanese telecommunications market and may interfere in the effective application of market principles.
The CIAJ consists of 239 member companies, including 22 foreign affiliates.