Japan’s parliament enacted a bill on Wednesday to ease restrictions on Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT), partly to help the group become more competitive on the global stage.
The bill to revise the NTT law was approved by a majority vote at a plenary meeting of the House of Councilors, the upper chamber of the Diet, with support mainly from the ruling bloc.
The revised law will scrap the telecommunications giant’s obligation to disclose research results, a change seen as strengthening its competitiveness.
NTT will also be allowed to allocate less than one-third of the seats in its board of directors to foreign nationals. Currently, it is banned from appointing non-Japanese directors.
The revised law, which passed the House of Representatives, the lower chamber, earlier this month, will enable NTT and its two regional units to change their official corporate names.
The revision includes a supplementary provision requiring the government to conduct a review of NTT-related regulations, including a study into the possibility of abolishing the revised NTT law, and submit legislation for regulatory changes as early as at the ordinary Diet session in 2025. The ruling Liberal Democratic Party wants the law to be scrapped.
Meanwhile, a debate is going on at the government’s Information and Communications Council, which advises the communications minister, on whether to review the universal service obligation imposed on the NTT group’s fixed-line telephone services.
The council is expected to conclude the debate as early as this summer.