OSAKA -- Yasuo Shingu, chairman of the Kansai Economic Federation (Kankeiren), June 2 expressed hope that Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. will set up its western regional headquarters in Osaka after its expected breakup.
The current Diet session is expected to approve the bill that would break the telecommunications giant into two regional carriers -- NTT East and NTT West -- and a long-distance carrier, under one holding company. If the bill is passed, NTT will aim to reorganize itself by 1999.
"Although we cannot formally ask them before the passage of the bill, we hope NTT will bring its telecommunication center to Kansai," Shingu said, adding that a concentration of software industries is indispensable for the region's development. Business communities in other areas, such as Hiroshima and Nagoya, are said to be calling on NTT to set up the head office of NTT West there.