Plagued by a plummeting number of subscribers and intense competition with cellular phone operators, Tokyo Telemessage Inc., a leading pager service, sought court protection from creditors' claims on its assets Tuesday, company officials said.
The application, filed under the Corporate Rehabilitation Law, was accepted later in the day by the Tokyo District Court.
Tokyo Telemessage is the first to fail among the telecommunications carriers established after the deregulation of the industry in 1985.