NTT Corp. is financially strong enough to endure a proposed drastic reduction in connection fees that it charges other carriers for use of its local networks, U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky said Monday.

"The claim of the Japanese government that NTT is too weak to endure competition is somewhat belied by its fairly aggressive acquisition (of a U.S. Internet company)," Barshefsky told reporters after giving a speech to communication industry leaders.

She was referring to a plan by NTT Communications Corp., an NTT subsidiary, to buy Verio Inc., a Colorado-based Web site manager.

The buyout plan attracted strong criticism from some U.S. lawmakers, who wrote to Barshefsky and asked her office to consider blocking the plan as long as Japan refuses to cut NTT's access charges.