An advisory panel to communications minister Heizo Takenaka proposed Tuesday that NHK user fees be lowered by reducing the number of the public broadcaster's channels.

The eight-member panel, formed in January, also said in its outline on the future of Japan's telecommunication and broadcasting industries that it is necessary to reform telecommunication giant Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. to promote fair competition in the industry.

The panel will hammer out a final report after discussing details of its proposals, but no completion date has been set, said Satoru Matsubara, chairman of the panel and a professor at Toyo University.