The telecommunications market in Japan: entering the digital era and the second phase of competition

After the liberalization of the Japanese telecommunications market in 1985, the market went through a first phase of competition, which focused on domestic telephony services, in both the long distance (domestic and international) and mobile segments. However, the growth of the Internet and the full digitalization of NTT's telecommunications network are ushering in a digital era and a second phase of competition. This article describes the current Japanese telecommunications market and the direction it is taking by referring to key statistical indicators.