III

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. RES. 207

Expressing the sense of the Senate regarding fair access to Japanese

telecommunications facilities and services.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

OCTOBER 27, 1999

Mr. BAUCUS (for himself and Mr. GRASSLEY) submitted the following

resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Finance

RESOLUTION

Expressing the sense of the Senate regarding fair access

to Japanese telecommunications facilities and services.

Whereas the United States has a deep and sustained interest

in the promotion of deregulation, competition, and regulatory reform in Japan;

Whereas new and bold measures by the Government of Japan

regarding regulatory reform will help remove the regulatory and structural impediments to the effective functioning of market forces in the Japanese economy;

Whereas regulatory reform will increase the efficient allocation of resources in Japan, which is critical to returning

Japan to a long-term growth path powered by domestic

demand;
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Whereas regulatory reform will not only improve market access for United States business and other foreign firms,

but will also enhance consumer choice and economic prosperity in Japan;

Whereas a sustained recovery of the Japanese economy is

vital to a sustained recovery of Asian economies;

Whereas the Japanese economy must serve as one of the

main engines of growth for Asia and for the global economy;

Whereas the Governments of the United States and Japan

reconfirmed the critical importance of deregulation, competition, and regulatory reform when the two governments established the Enhanced Initiative on Deregulation and Competition Policy in 1997;

Whereas telecommunications is a critical sector requiring reform in Japan, where the market is hampered by a history of laws, regulations, and monopolistic practices that

do not meet the needs of a competitive market;

Whereas as the result of Japan’s laws, regulations, and monopolistic practices, Japanese consumers and Japanese

industry have been denied the broad benefits of innovative telecommunications services, cutting edge technology,

and lower prices that competition would bring to the

market;

Whereas Japan’s significant lag in developing broadband and

Internet services, and Japan’s lag in the entire area of

electronic commerce, is a direct result of a noncompetitive telecommunications regulatory structure;

Whereas Japan’s lag in developing broadband and Internet

services is evidenced by the following: (1) Japan has only

17,000,000 Internet users, while the United States has
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80,000,000 Internet users; (2) Japan hosts fewer than

2,000,000 web sites, while the United States hosts over

30,000,000 web sites; (3) electronic commerce in Japan

is valued at less than $1,000,000,000, while in the

United States electronic commerce is valued at over

$30,000,000,000; and (4) 19 percent of Japan’s schools

are connected to the Internet, while in the United States

89 percent of schools are connected; and

Whereas leading edge foreign telecommunications companies,

because of their high level of technology and innovation,

are the key to building the necessary telecommunications

infrastructure in Japan, which will only be able to serve

Japanese consumers and industry if there is a fundamental change in Japan’s regulatory approach to telecommunications: Now, therefore, be it

1 Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that—

2 (1) the appropriate officials in the executive

3 branch should implement vigorously the call for

4 Japan to undertake a major regulatory reform in the

5 telecommunications sector, the so called ‘‘Tele6 communications Big Bang’’;

7 (2) a ‘‘Telecommunications Big Bang’’ must

8 address fundamental legislative and regulatory

9 issues within a strictly defined timeframe;

10 (3) the new telecommunications regulatory

11 framework should put competition first in order to

12 encourage new and innovative businesses to enter

13 the telecommunications market in Japan;
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1 (4) the Government of Japan should ensure

2 that Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation

3 (NTT) and its affiliates (the NTT Group) are pre4 vented from using their dominant position in the

5 wired and wireless market in an anticompetitive

6 manner; and

7 (5) the Government of Japan should take cred8 ible steps to ensure that competitive carriers have

9 reasonable, cost-based, and nondiscriminatory access

10 to the rights-of-way, facilities, and services con11 trolled by NTT, the NTT Group, other utilities, and

12 the Government of Japan, including—

13 (A) access to interconnection at market14 based rates;

15 (B) unrestricted access to unbundled ele16 ments of the network belonging to NTT and

17 the NTT Group; and

18 (C) access to public roads for the installa19 tion of facilities.

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