Japan - Infrastructure - FttH, NGNs & IP

Synopsis

Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications began urging domestic telecommunications operators in 2005 to have Next Generation Networks in place by 2007. This was designed to enable Japan to have working standards sorted out one year before the ITU international NGN standards were determined, giving Japan an international competitive advantage in NGN equipment manufacture. Although NTT dominates Japanese telecoms infrastructure, KDDI and Softbank are taking steps to bypass NTT’s system. This report examines Japanese national infrastructure (including FttH and IP networks) and international infrastructure (including submarine cable and satellite networks).