NTT East to Launch Fiber-Optic IP Phone Services on Feb. 1

Jan. 26–TOKYO — NTT East Corp. said Wednesday it will start offering full-fledged Internet protocol telephone services using fiber optics in Tokyo, Kanagawa and Chiba prefectures on Feb. 1.

The fixed-line regional telephone carrier of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. will expand the services this fall to cover all its areas, it said.

Fiber-optic IP phone services feature high quality, matching that of conventional phones, and enable users to use their existing fixed-line phone numbers.

With the launch of the services, NTT East aims to counter its rivals such as Softbank Corp., which will launch inexpensive fixed-line services, by prompting NTT phone line users to transfer to its value-added fiber-optic IP phones.

NTT East aims to win 500,000 contracts in one year.

The IP phone services will be offered to users of B-Flet’s fiber-optic high-speed Internet access service at a basic monthly fee of 520 yen.

A user of the services can make calls at 8.4 yen per three minutes regardless of distance, which is much cheaper than conventional calls.

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