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Japanese Firm to Start International Internet-Protocol Phone Service

Posted on: Thursday, 5 February 2004, 06:00 CST

Feb. 5--TOKYO -- NTT Communications Corp. will start offering this spring an Internet protocol (IP)-based international phone service as part of its global IP-based intranet data communications services, a company spokesman said Thursday.

The new phone service will enable companies to connect to their overseas offices in 88 countries and territories, including Europe, North America, Asia and Oceania, and slash phone costs by 30 percent to 50 percent, the spokesman said.

This is an added service to its existing IP-VPN (virtual private network) service called Arcstar Global IP-VPN, he said.

IP-VPN service is being offered by other telecom firms as well, including KDDI Corp.

But NTT Communications, a unit of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp., is the first one that has included IP phones in IP-VPN, the spokesman said.

There were 124 corporate users for NTT Communications' Arcstar Global IP-VPN service as of the end of September 2003. By adding IP phones, the company hopes to attract more corporate clients, he said.

But he did not give a specific target number.

KDDI and other telecom firms have so far refrained from including IP phones in their IP-VPN due to sound quality problems.

NTT Communications has solved these problems by employing new technology, the spokesman said.

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(c) 2004, Kyodo News International, Tokyo. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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