Beyond Network Neutrality: the state of play in Japanese telecommunication competition

This paper describes the present information and communication technology (ICT) market in Japan and introduces some key policy issues currently impacting on the evolving broadband, mobile, Internet and next generation network market, and other issues likely to impact them in future. The paper argues that there is an implicit guiding principle behind several policy initiatives on these issues that might well be described as being based on the conceptual framework of 'Network Neutrality'. The paper further identifies some new policy issues, such as mobile content regulation, interconnection of the NGN and the Internet (IPv6), the introduction of Internationalised Domain Name (IDN) country code Top-Level Domain (ccTLD), and depletion of IPv4 address spaces. In order to accommodate these new policy challenges located in the upper layer of the communication architecture, this paper suggests extending the scope of Network Neutrality and examining the multi-stakeholder approach exercised at the Internet Governance Forum (IGF). Copyright 2009 Izumi Aizu and Judit Bayer. No part of this article may be reproduced by any means without the written consent of the publisher.