A government advisory panel on Friday approved a controversial plan to increase the interconnection fees NTT charges other firms to use its fixed telephone lines for fiscal 2003 and 2004.
The hike in the interconnection fees will reduce the profit margins of other telecom carriers, including KDDI Corp. and Japan Telecom Co.
The panel also suggested changing the way in which access charges are set to deal with the continuing decline in fixed-line telephone traffic, a major reason behind the increase in the access charge.