 |
 |
March 1, 2005 |
Submission for Approval of Business Operation Plan for
Fiscal
Year Ending March 31, 2006 |
Nippon Telegraph and Telephone East Corporation (NTT East) today submitted its
business operation plan for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2006 to the Minister
for Internal Affairs and Communications for approval.
Information and communications are expected to contribute enormously to invigorating
and enhancing the efficiency of socioeconomic activities, creating new industries,
and improving the living environment of citizens in order to achieve the aim
of the u-Japan Initiative: a ubiquitous network society. Moreover, as needs grow
steadily more sophisticated, diverse, and global in character, the very structure
of the information and telecommunications market is undergoing dramatic change,
characterized by surging demand for mobile and Internet communications. The regional
telecommunications market has also ushered in an era of rapid structural change
and full-fledged competition. In the fixed telephone field, competition has intensified
with the launch of fixed telephone services by new common carriers that use dry
copper lines. In the field of broadband communications, charges for Internet
access have also been falling with the expansion of demand and the heightening
of competition, and the use of IP telephones has been spreading rapidly not only
in the corporate market but also the household market.
Amidst such a difficult and sharply fluctuating operating environment, Nippon
Telegraph and Telephone East Corporation (NTT East) will continue to strive to
provide high-quality, stable universal services, while also enhancing the stability
and strength of its management base. The company will lead the rapidly growing
and diversifying broadband market and provide new services employing highly reliable
and sophisticated infrastructure, with the aim of contributing to a wide range
of both corporate and individual activities. NTT East will strive to fulfill
its mission as a leading company in the IP era and will contribute to its further
development with the aim of fostering information sharing. At the same time,
in order to realize the NTT Group's Medium-Term Management Strategy, the company
will devote itself to efficiently building optical access networks as an infrastructure
for broadband services and to ensuring reliability in the field of telecommunications.
Through these endeavors, NTT East will seek to make a real difference to the
world.
In the management of business operations for the fiscal year ending March
31, 2006, based upon this fundamental concept, NTT East will make every effort
to ascertain customer opinions and demands swiftly and accurately, and to improve
services accordingly. In the face of today's difficult operating environment,
the company will also endeavor to further raise the efficiency of management.
Moreover, NTT East will devote its full energy to the expansion of demand for
broadband communications that match user needs, including providing safe and
secure high value added services that are sure to lead the broadband market,
such as the full-fledged development of optical IP phone services. NTT East will
also strive to return the fruits of these measures to customers, the community,
and--through the holding company--to shareholders, and will promote the ongoing
development of stable operations in the future.
In line with this concept, for
the fiscal year ending March 31, 2006, NTT East will give priority to the following
categories in the conduct of its business management, and will do so flexibly
so as to respond to changes in the operating environment.
1. Voice Transmission Services
(1) Subscriber Telephones
NTT East will respond to all demand for subscriber
telephones, including the relocation of existing lines. The number of subscribers
is projected to total approximately 22.58 million by the end of the fiscal year
ending March 31, 2006.
| Item |
Planned Number (subscribers) |
| Additional Installations |
(2.26) million |
| Relocations |
4.94 million |
|
(2) Social-Welfare Telephones
The advance of the welfare society has been accompanied by a greater social
requirement for telecommunications services in the sphere of welfare. To respond
to this need, NTT East will continue to promote the installation of welfare-related
products, such as its "Silver Phones Series" (Anshin(Relief), Meiryo
(Clearness), Hibiki (Sound), and Fureai (Communication)).
| Item |
Planned Number (units) |
Silver Phones
Anshin (Relief)
Meiryo (Clearness) |
400
100 |
|
(3) Public Telephones
While securing a minimum level of public means of communication,
NTT East will review public telephones which are in low use today. The company
will strive to improve social welfare facilities and public services by continuing
to promote the installation of wheelchair-accessible public telephone boxes.
All IC card public telephones will be replaced by magnetic card public telephones
by the end of the fiscal year ending March 31, 2006.
| Item |
Planned Number (units) |
| Public Telephones |
(23,000) |
|
(4) INS-Net Digital Services
INS-Net digital services can be provided in all regions
in which demand is forecasted. The numbers of INS-Net 64 lines and INS-Net 1500
lines are projected to total approximately 3,418,000 and 33,000, respectively,
by the close of the fiscal year ending March 31, 2006.
| Item |
Planned Number (circuits) |
| INS-Net 64 Subscriber Lines |
(559,000) |
| INS-Net 1500 Subscriber Lines |
(2,000) |
|
2. Data Transmission Services
To respond to heightening demand for broadband services,
NTT East will endeavor to enhance access services, expand service areas, and
provide new services, focusing mainly on the full provision of optical IP phone
services.
| Item |
Planned Number (circuits) |
| B FLET’S |
1 million |
|
3. Leased Circuit Services
In the field of leased circuit services, NTT East is
planning to install the facilities needed to cater to the increasingly varied
demand for circuits, including for high-speed digital transmission and voice
and image transmission.
| Item |
Planned Number (circuits) |
| Conventional Leased Circuits |
(38,000) |
| High-Speed Digital Transmission Circuits |
(42,000) |
|
4. Telegraph Services
NTT East will continue to conduct the maintenance of systems and other operations
in order to further improve services and to promote increased operating efficiency
in its telegraph services.
5. Improvements and Advances in Telecommunications
Facilities
(1) Optical Access Network
The switchover to the use of optical fiber in the access
network will be actively promoted in accordance with factors such as heightening
demand for broadband services.
| Item |
Planned Number (million fiber km) |
| Optical Subscriber Cables |
1.9 |
|
(Cover rate at the end of March 2006 will be 85%.)
(2) Telecommunications Network
In its telecommunications network, NTT East will
not only meet demand for broadband services, but at the same time will further
upgrade network services and improve network economy and efficiency.
(3) Disaster-Prevention
Measures
NTT East will take all necessary measures in the sphere of disaster-prevention
measures. These will include disaster-prevention measures for telecommunications
equipment and facilities, measures to ensure emergency communications, and measures
to strengthen the structure for crisis management and the restoration of systems
if large-scale disasters occur, and to assist with the sharing of information
after a natural disaster.
(4) Installation of Underground Transmission Cables
With regard to the burying
of transmission cables, from the standpoint of improving the reliability of communications
facilities, ensuring safe and pleasant passage spaces, and enhancing the appearance
of urban areas, NTT East will work in cooperation with the national and local
governments and with other companies.
(5) Facility Maintenance
The maintenance of facilities will be directed at ensuring
stable and high-quality services, by, for example, replacing cables and other
facilities on an on-going basis. Through this, NTT East will aim not only to
maintain customer services, but also to ensure safe operations, harmonization
with the social environment, and the stabilization of communications systems.
NTT
East will seek to minimize costs by making exhaustive use of existing equipment
and facilities in improving and upgrading communications facilities.
6. Promotion
of R&D Activities
To further stabilize and strengthen its management base,
and to respond to the rapid expansion and diversification of the Internet market
and public demand for the creation of an advanced information and telecommunications
network society, NTT East will promote research and development in the spheres
of network systems and access systems so as to upgrade telecommunications networks.
In addition, to position itself to give customers the choice of a diverse range
of reliable and convenient services through sophisticated telecommunications
networks, NTT East will also conduct research and development in such areas as
information-sharing applications and communications terminals of various types.
A
summary of the business plans for the above principal services and capital investment
plans are outlined in the attached tables.
|
|
![[News Release Top]](../image/news_r_etop.gif)
|
|
