Trying to continue to undercut NTT Corp, Japanese telecommunications carrier DID Corp has applied for permission from the Japanese government to cut its long-distance call rates. The cuts, which the company said will trim revenues by 38bn yen per annum, follow a spate of rate cuts in Japan as NTT has looked to cut its prices to compete with its smaller rivals. If the rate cut is approved, the charge for a three-minute call between points more than 100 km apart during daytime would be cut to 90 yen from the current 100 yen. However, with these cuts DDI, whose long-distance calls have traditionally undercut NTT rates by 10 yen, will thus only match NTT new rates due to be introduced in February. Japan Telecom Co which announced its price cuts last week, has also set rates at 90 yen. With the new cuts, DDI will still undercut NTT in shorter-distance calls, lowering its rates by 10 yen to 40 yen for calls of over 30km and up to 60km and by 10 yen to 70 yen for calls between 60km and 100km. DDI will also set up two new rate zones for calls to neighboring cities and those of up to 20 kilometers, charging 20 yen for three minutes, the same as NTT’s rate.
