FACILITY SUPPLY-AND-DEMAND OF THE TRUNK LINE NETWORK - SOME ASPECTS OF COMPETITION IN THE JAPANESE TELECOMMUNICATIONS MARKET

This article reports that a significantly low figure is obtained in ca lculating the facility demand-supply ratio, or capacity utilization, o f the Japanese trunk line network. It also notes NTT's overwhelming sh ares in both volume of services and transmission facilities as well as large scale economies in transmission technology associated with circ uit multiplexing, Huge excess capacity, mainly in NTT, could potential ly destabilize the long-distance market. Although competition has prod uced demonstrable results, these may not be enough to prevent persiste nt inefficiency in the incumbent's investment behaviour.