The president of Japan Telecom Co. said Tuesday that the company will soon match the major cuts in telephone rates announced last week by the two Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp. regional carriers.
"We are preparing to catch up to them at an early date," Haruo Murakami told a news conference.
He said his company, an affiliate of the Japan Railway group, will cut its charges to match the new rates that NTT East Corp. and NTT West Corp. plan to introduce.
The reduction in rates will take place around Oct. 1, the date targeted by the NTT companies for their cuts, and is likely to slash Japan Telecom's annual sales by 4 billion yen, he said.
NTT East and NTT West said Thursday they will reduce charges for calls within prefectures by an average of 40 percent starting Oct. 1.
Murakami also voiced strong opposition to plans by the government and the three coalition parties to urge NTT East and NTT West to reunite.
Referring to the breakup of the Japanese National Railways into regional companies in the late 1980s, Murakami said, "JR group firms are now competing with each other after the breakup. I am dead against the reunification of NTT East and West because the public would then be unable to enjoy the same benefit if they merged again."