Like many other government bodies in Japan, the ICT bureaus in the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) are bracing for an uncertain future as the new guard of politicians take control following the LDP's defeat in the recent general election.
Most of the major ICT policies of previous governments, such as Heizo Takenaka's reform plans, including the proposed Information and Communications Act and the second reorganization of the NTT group in 2010, are now in limbo. MIC bureaucrats have been told to wait for the politicians to decide their plans.
The new MIC minister Kazuhiro Haraguchi caused a stir during the election by declaring he would like to replace the MIC's ICT bureaus with an FCC-type regulatory body - one policy document suggests legislation for such a body in 2011.
He has also talked about introducing radio spectrum auctions and hinted he may reintegrate some of NTT's subsidiaries.
However, when the MIC announced on October 23 the creation of a "Task Force on ICT Policy in a Global Age" consisting of the minister, vice-minister, MIC parliamentary secretary, and the chairmen and vice-chairman of four study groups, there was no specific mention of either a Japanese FCC or NTT.
The task force, with four groups, will operate for about one year and create a policy-making platform.
NTT links
While it is expected to consider the status of NTT, MIC sources say the task force will not look into the Japanese FCC issue.
Haraguchi himself has not been so vocal about his FCC plan after actually visiting the FCC in Washington last month. He is now thought to favor a Japanese FCC operating in parallel with the MIC. Opponents of the concept in Japan point out that the MIC-model has been more successful into developing ICT infrastructure in Japan than the FCC has in the US.
"I don't see any point in establishing another government entity unless its purpose, policies and objectives are clear. If the government feels that, for example, the broadcast industry needs to be better regulated, it needs to make a convincing case," commented George Hoffman, group manager for communications at IDC Japan.
Meanwhile, it has been revealed that the new government everyone expected to be fresh and neutral has NTT connections. For example, Haraguchi's deputy minister Masamitsu Naito used to work for NTT's still-powerful labor union. Haraguchi himself has been using expressions similar to those of NTT chairman Norio Wada on the subject.
KDDI president Tadashi Onodera and Softbank president Masayoshi Son, who are the most vocal in demanding the further dismemberment of NTT's businesses, will participate in the task force as study group members but may find it hard to exert much influence.
Onodera has been demanding NTT's fixed-line business be split into two: services and facilities. Softbank has started pushing to make NTT's FTTH network publicly-owned.