Die NTT DIE!

[Taro Toporific]

Softbank to Undercut NTT's Fee for Basic Monthly Phone ServiceAug. 30 (Bloomberg) --Softbank Corp., Japan's second- largest provider of high-speed Internet access, said it will offer a fixed-line phone service undercutting the basic monthly fee charged by Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp.
Softbank will begin offering the service in December through Japan Telecom Co., the phone company it acquired in July...

[Taro Toporific]

Softbank to Undercut NTT's Fee for Basic Monthly Phone ServiceAug. 30 (Bloomberg) --...

KDDI to offer cheaper fixed-line phone service than NTT
Japan Today, Sept 9--TOKYO — KDDI Corp will start offering a discounted fixed-line phone service within this fiscal year with a basic monthly charge about 250 yen cheaper than those of NTT...

[Taro Toporific]

Online Extra: Why Son Is "Banging the Table"
---Softbank's president is betting his unconventional tactics will get higher-quality radio band for Japan's cell-phone newcomers ---
MSNBC - Oct 28
Softbank (SFTBF) President Masayoshi Son has shaken up the genteel world of Japanese telecommunications with his Yahoo BB high-speed Internet service. Today, some 4.5 million Japanese subscribe to Yahoo BB. And his aggressive pricing has given Japanese consumers some of the lowest prices on earth for ultrafast Internet service.
Now, Son is looking to do the same to the clubby world of Japan's cellular communications. He says he can offer service that will boost competition and force Japan's notoriously expensive mobile operators to reduce their subscription fees. Problem is, he doesn't yet have a license...more...

[Lifer]

Go Son GO!!
More the power to him, if he can help take some power away from the Dogs at NTT. Especially since they've decided to relieve us of the 70,000 yen we paid just to get an already existing phone line on top of the already huge connection fees they charge. (You know - starting and stoppping services for 30,000 yen, etc) Didn't know it cost so much to push a damn button!!

[Mulboyne]

Japan Times: Japan Telecom agents lying to woo clients, ministry told
Thousands of consumers are complaining that sales agents for Japan Telecom Co. are lying to them in order to get contracts for the company's new fixed-line phone service, sources said Wednesday.
According to the complaints filed with NTT and the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry, Japan Telecom agents are falsely telling consumers that their firm has merged with NTT Corp. or that they were commissioned by NTT, the nation's largest telecom service operator. The false statements were apparently made to get consumers to switch from NTT to Japan Telecom, the sources said. Japan Telecom, a unit of Internet investor Softbank Corp., launched the new phone service in December.

Bloomberg: Softbank's Loss Widens on Investment in Fixed Lines
Softbank Corp., challenging Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp. for leadership of Japan's high-speed Internet market, had a wider third-quarter loss on promotional costs and a push into fixed-line phone services. The net loss was 26.5 billion yen ($251 million) for the three months ended Dec. 31, compared with a 16.4 billion yen loss a year earlier, the Tokyo-based company said today in a press release. Sales gained 89 percent to 258.1 billion yen after the company's Japan Telecom Co. fixed-line unit was added.

[PinkRivet]

Got my KDDI Metal Plus line installed last week.. (after two months of waiting..)..

Seems to work good.. Didn't have to pay a yen for all the startup fees.. And I believe the first 2 months are free as well.