Japan Post can be divided into four private entities within the April 2007 time frame, if it adopts a provisional computer system, sources familiar with the matter said Monday.
Japan Post referred to the possibility during a meeting on how to computerize the postal services before they are split up and privatized by the government in April 2007, the sources said.
The government's scheme calls for splitting Japan Post into four entities in charge of mail delivery, postal savings, life insurance, and over-the-counter services at the nationwide network of post offices.
Japan Post had previously maintained that splitting itself into four entities by that time would be impossible, because of the difficulty of building a compatible computer system.
The huge postal entity now thinks it can adopt a basic computer system that can perform such functions as payment of corporate income taxes and fixed asset taxes, the sources said.