The first half figures from Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp pre-tax profits down 14.6% on turnover up just 1.1%, see page five – coupled with downgraded forecasts for the full year, show not only how much more effectively Japan has created competition in its telecommunications market than either the UK, where British Telecommunications Plc continues to report soaring figures, and hasn’t actually had to cut many prices, or the US, where AT&T Co’s Long Lines business remains the moneyspinner it always was despite liberalisation: the rise of competition has led NTT to file for a cut in long-distance rates of 9.9% to keep up with the competition, and of 16.6% between the islands that make up Japan, where it does not yet have any competition; the figures also underline the sharp contrast in the Japanese investment mentality and that almost anywhere else, where what is clearly the dullest of utilities gets a stock market rating that even the fastest growing and most exciting companies like Amstrad Plc can only dream of here in London.
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