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It was reported in February 2021 that Tohokushinsha employees had entertained Ministry of Interior and Communications executives, who are civil servants, many times, which became a big problem, but in March 2021, it became a big problem. in the telecommunications industry. It has become a bigger ruckus due to the fire.
Many of you may know the background of the matter because it has already been covered in many media every day, but looking back briefly, there are several people like Jun Sawada, the president of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT). It all started when it was reported on March 3, 2021 that he had repeatedly provided high-priced entertainment to executives from the Ministry of the Interior and Communications.
Since the employees of the Ministry of the Interior and Communications are national civil servants, the Ethics Law of the National Civil Service prohibits receiving entertainment from private companies that have an interest in the Ministry of the Interior and Communications. Tohoku Shinsha is a satellite broadcast channel, NTT is doing business with the so-called “NTT Law” and the radio license of NTT DoCoMo, which became a wholly owned subsidiary, with permission from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, And it is clear that it is the Ministry of the Interior and Communications, being a company with interest, receiving a large amount of entertainment from those companies many times became a big problem when coming into contact with the law.
In the form of receiving Tohokushinsha entertainment problem, the top executives of the Ministry of the Interior and Communications, who had been receiving entertainment such as Mr. Yasuhiko Taniwaki, director of the Office of General Infrastructure of Communications of the Ministry of Interior and Communications, I received provisions like replacement and salary reduction one after another. On top of that, NTT’s entertainment issue was discovered, so Taniwaki appears to have been suspended for another three months on March 16, 2021, and resigned on the same day.
Furthermore, on March 18, 2021, the Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications, Ryota Takeda, also received news reports and admitted to the Diet that he had received entertainment from NTT. According to Minister Takeda’s explanation, he attended only about an hour, and since he received no requests for permission from attendees, he said he would not violate the Minister of State’s rules, but Minister Takeda was entertained by the press. It seems that there are quite a few voices that question the answer because they have not clarified the facts.
On the other hand, the entertainment side of NTT also recognizes the fact of entertainment, and the NTT Group has established a special investigative committee to clarify the facts and investigate the cause. However, the situation did not stop there, and the opposition party has turned into a situation in which it asks the Diet to invite Mr. Sawada as a witness.
In fact, Mr. Sawada attended the House of Counselors on March 14, 2021 and the House of Representatives Budget Committee on March 15, 2021 for reference. It is quite unusual for a civilian to be invited to the Diet as a witness, so I think the seriousness of this problem is understandable.
To know the trends of the mobile phone industry, the author listens to the meeting of experts of the Ministry of the Interior and Communications and collects information on communication management, but since I am not fully specialized in politics and scandals, how to know the true meaning However, from the perspective of the recent relationship between the NTT Group and politics, I think that the comments made by the Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications Ryota Takeda gave the impression that NTT’s favor was conspicuous .
One of them is the acquisition of NTT DoCoMo by NTT as a wholly owned subsidiary. NTT announced on September 29, 2020 that NTT DoCoMo will become a wholly owned subsidiary, but is a majority shareholder of NTT, which is a former state-owned company and has promoted the separation and division of the NTT Group, which has a high share mainly in fixed communications There was considerable opposition from competitors to the fact that a Japanese government turned around and approved it as a wholly owned subsidiary.
However, looking at Minister Takeda’s press conference statements before and after the announcement that NTT DoCoMo will become a wholly owned subsidiary, “the era in which competition for car phones and mobile phones Mobile phones is about to begin, and the era in which mobile phones have become so widespread. I think the social environment is clearly different, so we would like to expect a robust method that matches the social environment “(September 29, 2020), “Through our effort”. “I think it’s a very good thing” (Oct 2, 2020), and the positive comments about making it a wholly owned subsidiary are conspicuous.
The other is the comments made by Minister Takeda and others regarding the reduction of mobile phone rates. NTT DoCoMo, which became a wholly owned subsidiary of NTT, announced a new “ahamo” rate plan on December 3, 2020 and it became a big topic, but at the cost of drastically reducing the rate, it couldn’t provide support in the DoCoMo store. There were many parts that were clearly different from the conventional rate plan, and many people were skeptical about evaluating it in the same way as the conventional plan.
However, Minister Takeda and Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, who held a press conference on December 4, have said that they have made a 70% cheaper rate plan starting in 2018 with the main brand. From the attitude of the management executives praising ahamo, which seems to have been forcibly adapted to the pricing plan, as a price reduction of the main brand, I have the impression of NTT’s favor.
Another thing that made NTT’s favor stand out was Minister Takeda’s response to KDDI. In response to Mr. Makoto Takahashi, President and CEO of KDDI, in an interview with a newspaper company, he made a critical statement about the Kan administration’s policy, such as saying that the country does not have the authority to decide the charges. mobile phone. At a press conference on November 27, 2014, he said: “I was very disappointed and disappointed.”
Then, at a press conference on January 15, 2021, Minister Takeda was asked about accepting the new “povo” rate plan announced by KDDI, and compared to the ahamo rate at the time, he made a free call from 5 minutes as Mr. Takahashi said that the monthly price was lowered by 500 yen, which was the “lowest price”, and said, “I think it was a very confusing announcement.” The appearance of repeatedly responding harshly to KDDI, which has adopted a critical attitude towards the administration, gives the impression of being in favor of NTT.
Of course, it appears that both Minister Takeda and Mr. Sawada have denied the direct benefits of entertainment, and there is no certainty that an entertainment series is linked to NTT’s favor by the Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications, so that this is just a series. It should be noted that this is just the impression I received from the trends in. However, there are many people who have the same point of view when combining a number of trends and entertainment problems, so I would like you to actively pursue the truth and prevent it from repeating itself to clear your doubts …
On the other hand, I am very concerned that the entertainment issue affects communication policy and, more specifically, the efforts for Beyond 5G and 6G may be stagnant. Mr. Taniwaki and others who have been promoting communication policy have left the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications or have lost their positions due to entertainment problems, so I am very concerned about how that will affect the direction of the communication industry. Japanese telecommunications. It is a place to be.
It is a very recent story in the history of Japan that telecommunications have become such a big industry in the first place. Although it was under the jurisdiction of the former Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications before the reorganization in 2001, I think it is impossible that it is under the jurisdiction of the same ministries and agencies as the local administration and postal policy.
If you want to bring the telecommunications industry to a level where it can seriously compete with other countries in the era of 5G and 6G as a country, a new ministry specializing in telecommunications management, which is the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the United States, will be established. The author thinks that the Ministry of the Interior and Communications can be dismantled and revised according to the current situation, taking advantage of a series of events, such as increased knowledge and coordination with the most relevant Digital Agency. ..
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