High-Speed and Ultra High-Speed Networks

Subscription-based networks that connect subscribers to the reception stations of telecommunications carriers used to be largely based on fixed-line telephones via metallic cables or ISDN. In recent years, however, they have rapidly become diversified through the advancing development of fiber optic cables, which reflects the increasing needs demanded by high-speed and large capacity data communications. The development of fiber optic networks has been undertaken steadily so that by the end of fiscal 2000 the coverage of the development of fiber optic cable networks in Japan was 43%, a 7.0 point increase over the previous fiscal year based on the hub points of telecommunications carriers (Exhibit 2-8). In addition, the progress being made in the wide-banding of transmission capacities as well as in the conversion to fiber optics within the backbone of the cable TV networks has gone a long way in coping with the broad-banding of the Internet, etc.

The development of domestic relay networks has been enhanced by the installation of fiber optics, and almost 100% of the relay networks that link exchange stations have been converted into fiber optics. In terms of the length of cables, 89% of the total length of cables, which amounted to approximately 270,000 km as at the end of fiscal 2000, have been converted into fiber optics. In addition, fiber optics has been used in the development of international undersea cable networks, allowing for high-speed and large capacity communications.

Moreover, in the area of Internet exchange (IX) there has been a movement toward the decentralization of IX into data centers in which the circuits for the Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are concentrated, and new IXs are being installed in the major urban areas.

## Radio Stations

At the end of fiscal 2001 there were 74,345,634 radio stations, an 11.7% increase over the previous fiscal year. A breakdown of this figure shows that the increase in the total number of radio stations was primarily due to the significant growth in the number of land mobile stations including cell phone terminals, which stood at 71,709,278, a 12.4% increase over the previous fiscal year, due to the rapid penetration of cell phones. In addition, despite the fact that the number of base stations continued to decline for the second consecutive year to 793,860 stations (a 3.4% decline from the previous fiscal year), there was a dramatic growth in the number of base stations for IMT-2000, which stood at 8,119, a 4,042.3% increase over the previous fiscal year. This reflects the aggressive capital investment being undertaken by mobile telecommunications carriers in preparation for the full-scale launch of the IMT-2000 service.

## Postal Network

In Japan, post offices are found in every municipality and offer equitable service across the country. As of the end of fiscal 2001 there were 24,773 post offices (no change from the previous fiscal year), 151,722 postage stamp retail agencies and revenue stamp retail agencies (preliminary figure) (a 0.1% decrease over the previous fiscal year), 78,939 Yu-pack (parcel post) agencies (preliminary figure) (a 4.3% decrease over the previous fiscal year), and approximately 177,000 mail boxes (preliminary figure), a 0.1% increase over the previous fiscal year.