U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky on Wednesday hailed the Tokyo-Washington agreement on the reduction of NTT Corp.'s interconnection charges and expressed hope for further rate cuts over the next three years.
Under the deal officially struck earlier Wednesday, the U.S. said Japan has agreed to reduce the cost for competitors to access NTT's regional circuits by 50 percent over two years. Local access cuts will total 20 percent over two years and 22.5 percent over three years.
Regional access refers to switches that provide communications among people living in distant areas, including overseas.