A set of telecommunications-related bills the government aims to pass in the current Diet session is unlikely to include a proposed two-year deadline for the breaking up of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp., the telecom minister said Tuesday.
"The possibility is high that the two-year deadline will not be written," Toranosuke Katayama, minister of public management, home affairs, posts and telecommunications, told a regular news conference.
Katayama was quick to call on NTT to promote competition within its group, however, saying he will deal with the case flexibly so the timing of an NTT breakup could be advanced or postponed.
Katayama made the comments in reference to a report by a government advisory panel calling for such a breakup if competition fails to be enhanced among NTT's group companies two years after the telecom law is amended.
In a report submitted to the then posts and telecommunications minister on Dec. 21, the Telecommunications Council said capital tieups among NTT group companies should be completely dissolved if competition is not boosted two years after amendments are made to the law governing the telecom giant.
NTT has expressed strong opposition to the notion of dismantling its holding company system on the grounds that it would weaken the group's competitive edge overseas.