The ministry in charge of telecommunications will not authorize until after this fall a plan by regional telephone operators of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. to launch an Internet access service for fixed-line phones, ministry officials said Wednesday.
The Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications believes the planned service requires a revision of the NTT law limiting the work of the two companies, NTT East Corp. and NTT West Corp., to regional phone services, the officials said.
The planned L-mode service, which is a fixed-line version of NTT DoCoMo Inc.'s i-mode Internet-capable mobile phone service, would enable consumers to use fixed-line phones equipped with liquid crystal display panels to access the Internet without personal computers or other contracts with Internet service providers.
As NTT East and NTT West are not permitted to offer services utilizing the Internet, the ministry plans to decide whether to authorize their applications after the NTT law is revised during the current Diet session and put into effect this fall, the officials said.