About 25,000 people took a computer test Sunday conducted by NTT Communications Corp. to receive a certificate of qualification in information technology.

The exam, the company's first, tests for basic knowledge of information technology and was held at 29 locations in 11 cities nationwide, including Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Sapporo and Fukuoka. The exam fee was 8,000 yen per person.

Those who successfully pass the 150-minute exam will receive a certificate of qualification, NTT Communications said.

Applicants answered questions about such things as how to set up personal computers and e-mail software, as well as about the functions, history and terminology of the the Internet, by filling in computer-scored answer sheets.

Reflecting the high interest in IT, a broad range of applicants took the exam, including a 10-year-old girl and an 82-year-old man.

NTT Communications, the long-distance and international calling arm of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp., plans to let successful applicants to participate in its Internet client support business from home, starting this summer.

Seiki Aramaki, a 37-year-old employee of NTT Communications, said he did it for the challenge. "I wanted to check the level of my abilities. Setting up personal computers in detail is unexpectedly difficult," he said.

The company also had its overseas employees take the exam via personal computers in Hong Kong and four other locations on a trial basis, the company said. NTT plans to hold the exams twice a year and to introduce additional levels such as intermediate and advanced exams, it said.