NTT Communications Corp., a major long-distance and international telecom carrier, will enter the local-call market in May, company officials said Tuesday.
It will initially offer services in the Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya metropolitan areas, they said.
The company, a unit of telecom giant Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp., will offer daytime local-call rates of 8.8 yen per three minutes, replicating those offered by group firms NTT East Corp. and NTT West Corp., and DDI Corp. -- better known as KDDI -- and Japan Telecom Co. The move will bring NTT Communications into direct competition with the group's regional carriers for the first time.
Competition is intensifying among Japanese phone companies ahead of the May launch in Japan of the Myline service, which grants users easier access to their chosen carriers.
On Monday, NTT Communications announced it will slash long-distance charges by a maximum of 25 percent from March 1.
NTT Communications, which last year unveiled plans to enter the local-call market, will concentrate its services in the Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya metropolitan areas for the time being, company officials said.
It also plans to offer intraprefectural calls.
The company applied to NTT East and NTT West on Monday to be allowed to hook up its lines to their local line networks, the officials said.