The Telecommunications Ministry may use taxpayer money to help telecom giant Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. maintain uniform local call rates nationwide, ministry sources said Saturday.
The ministry is considering contributing public money to a fund that telecom firms will be required to set up around fiscal 2002 to help NTT West Corp. and NTT East Corp. offer identical rates nationwide, sources from the Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications ministry said.
Under the NTT law, NTT's two regional carriers must provide a "universal service" with uniform rates.
However, they are finding it difficult to maintain the service because of unprofitable operations in areas with dwindling populations and stiff price competition from new telecom carriers.
The ministry plans to submit a bill to the ongoing Diet session to set up the fund. Officials decided that some taxpayer money should be used for a period to alleviate the burden on new carriers, the sources said.
The ministry will consider financing its contributions to the fund with revenues from sales of government-held NTT stock.
The government will also consider requesting funds in the fiscal 2002 budget for financing and subsidizing a nationwide fiber-optic and digital subscriber line network, and increasing coverage areas for cellular phones.