Subject:  Japan relectant to deregulate telecom (Guru)...
Date:     Thu, 7 Oct 1999 145913 -0500 (CDT)
From:     "Roy L. Beavers" 
To:       emfguru 
--------------------------------------------------


.........Hey!!  Japan!!  You stingy bastards!!  Deregulate ... 
so the Americans can take over......  (Like they have in Canada.....)

Roy Beavers (EMFguru)......
rbeavers@llion.org.......
.....It is better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness.....
EMF-L web-site can be found at: 
EMF-L archives can be found at: 
..................PEOPLE ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN PROFITS..................

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04:54 PM ET 10/06/99

Japan Urged To Deregulate Telecom


 By JOSEPH COLEMAN=
 Associated Press Writer=
           TOKYO (AP) _ As American and Japanese officials began talks
 Wednesday on opening up their markets to outsiders, U.S. Ambassador
 Thomas Foley called on Japan to deregulate its telecommunications
 industry and make it easier for competitors to enter it.
           Foley, outlining recommendations in an annual U.S. report on
 Japanese economic reforms, said a more open telecom industry in
 Japan would create jobs, stimulate investment and spur new
 businesses.
           He urged Japan to undertake a comprehensive overhaul of the
 industry, ``which would establish a regulatory system that makes
 promotion of competition its primary objective.''
           But Japanese Foreign Minister Yohei Kono, said the effort to
 deregulate should be a ``two-way'' process, ministry officials
 said.
           Tokyo pointed to U.S. anti-dumping measures as well as ``Buy
 American'' laws as examples of where the United States needs to
 modify its own regulations, an official said on customary condition
 of anonymity. Anti-dumping measures seek to stop foreign companies
 from selling products at below-production costs in the United
 States.
           In its study, the United States also calls for broader
 competition and specific reforms in industries including medical
 devices and pharmaceuticals, financial services, housing and
 energy. The study lays out the U.S. position in advance of an
 annual U.S.-Japan report on deregulation expected in March.
           The lucrative Japanese telecommunications industry has long been
 an area of concern for U.S. trade officials. The industry is
 dominated by Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Co., the world's second
 largest telecommunications company after AT&T Corp. of the United
 States.
           The Japanese government announced plans in 1996 to break up NTT,
 which long had a virtual monopoly on local phone services. And
 Washington and Tokyo reached an agreement this summer to give
 foreign companies a better shot at competing for sales to NTT and
 its successor companies.
           The U.S. report, however, said Japan needs to go further.
           ``The telecommunications market in Japan is burdened by a legacy
 of laws, regulations and monopolistic business practices that fail
 to support the needs of a competitive market,'' the report said.
           Washington urged Japan to draw up regulations to prevent
 anti-competitive behavior, free new entrants from excessive red
 tape and provide access to NTT's facilities, among other steps.

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Reprinted with permission of Roy Beavers, http://www.emfguru.com