Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. President Junichiro Miyazu on Friday suggested re-amalgamating NTT's two regional firms when the group's structure is reviewed.
"We knew from the beginning that splitting (NTT) into western and eastern companies was a little ambitious," Miyazu told reporters.
Some influential politicians and scholars want the NTT group restructured to ensure fair domestic competition and improve the group's efficiency.
When asked his opinion on NTT's two local-call firms, NTT East Corp. and NTT West Corp., entering the international and long-distance call market, Miyazu said the review should consider wide-scale radical change.
"We want to debate issues including whether the structure of NTT East and West should remain the same," Miyazu said.
Talks break down
U.S. and Japanese negotiators on Friday failed to break a stalemate over phone interconnection fees, merely agreeing to attempt to reach an agreement by Monday, Japanese government officials said.
Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Richard Fisher and his counterpart, Yoshiji Nogami, deputy minister for foreign affairs at the Foreign Ministry, are discussing the extent of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp.'s proposed cuts in interconnection fees.