Sony president and chief executive officer Nobuyuki Idei has called
on new prime minister Junichiro Koizumi to accelerate plans for
Japan become the world's most advanced IT nation in five
years.
Former prime minister Yoshiro Mori might have needed five years to
achieve the goal, said Idei, but Koizumi can make it within three
years. He promised his full support for Koizumi who, unlike his
predecessor, is popular with the Japanese public.
Idei's call was made at the Advanced Information and
Telecommunications Network Society Promotion Strategic
Headquarters, a government think-tank. It was the group's first
meeting since Koizumi took power in April.
Another member, Yusai Okuyama, president of Japan's second-largest
telecommunication carrier KDDI, emphasised the need for fair
competition between IT service carriers and that Japan should avoid
being a telecommunications monopoly. He also repeated a call for
NTT Group, which effectively monopolizes the basic wireline
infrastructure in Japan, to be broken up.
The panel also discussed the e-Japan 2002 program, a stepping stone
towards the full five-year goal, which was proposed by Koizumi in
his first policy speech as prime minister.
The project is part of the government's efforts to reform the
country and help reverse a serious economic downturn. One of its
targets is for at least 30 million households to have fixed access
to a high-speed Internet connection and 10 million households to
have fixed access to a super high-speed Internet connection by
2005.