Misunderstandings and current situation surrounding the 72,000 yen “telephone subscription right” – Dissatisfaction erupts again on SNS regarding NTT Law

Discussions regarding the review of the “NTT Law” are in intense conflict between NTT and three mobile phone companies (KDDI, Softbank, and Rakuten Mobile). As the venue for the battle moved to the SNS “X” (formerly Twitter), the topic spread elsewhere. That is the “right to subscribe to a telephone.” There were many replies to the NTT Public Relations Office’s post expressing resentment towards the “telephone subscription right.”

What is the telephone subscription right?

Telephone subscription rights, as the name suggests, are the rights of those who have subscribed to a landline telephone service to receive telephone services.

In the past, many people had to purchase a telephone subscription to subscribe to NTT’s landline telephone service. In 1985, when Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Public Corporation was privatized and NTT was established, the subscription price was 72,000 yen (excluding tax, hereinafter the same), and in 2005 the price was lowered to 36,000 yen, but it was still quite expensive. There is no difference.

On the other hand, telephone subscription rights were extremely expensive, and in the past, there was a market to buy and sell them, meaning that they had essentially a certain value as a property. However, with the spread of mobile phones and optical IP telephone services that do not require telephone subscription rights, the need for fixed telephones has decreased, and their value has plummeted. Also, NTT East and West did not guarantee its value.

As an example of the current value, if you check the standard price of “telephone subscription rights other than subscription rights with trading quotations” on the National Tax Agency’s website, the standard price from 2014 to 2020 is 1,500 yen. In addition, in the following year, 2021, the treatment of telephone subscription rights when filing inheritance tax, etc. will change, and there will already be a trading market for telephone subscription rights, and the amount per line will be extremely low. Since then, evaluation itself has stopped.

“Despite paying a high fee in the past, the value of the fee has almost completely disappeared.” Many people are dissatisfied with this, especially those who purchased subscription rights in the era of 72,000 yen. It is certain that he is holding. In fact, when NTT’s public relations department argued against the three competing companies regarding X, there were quite a few voices of resentment from X users, not only against NTT law but also against telephone subscription rights.

What I was paying was the “facility installation fee”

However, there seem to be quite a few misunderstandings regarding the right to subscribe to a telephone. In fact, please note that the explanation up to this point contains some misunderstandings that many people have, and some of the content is incorrect.

The misunderstanding lies in the fact that the person did not pay money to purchase the telephone subscription rights, but rather paid the “facility installation fee” required when signing a new fixed-line telephone contract. At the beginning of privatization, it was called “construction contributions.” In other words, NTT East and West’s landline telephone service was such that you could not get the right to subscribe to it without paying a facility installation fee.

An explanation on NTT East/West’s website states, “By reducing the amount paid by the customer (facility installation fee) from the construction cost of subscriber line equipment, we are able to set the monthly basic fee at a relatively low level. We are giving back to our customers.”

It is NTT East/West’s policy not to refund the facility installation fee when canceling the contract, as it returns money to customers by lowering monthly charges, which is also why they do not guarantee the value of telephone subscription rights. right.

From NTT East’s 2004 press release. It is said that part of the cost of installing subscriber lines from NTT East/West exchange offices to customers’ premises is covered by fees paid for telephone subscription rights.

Despite this, why did telephone subscription rights have value and were bought and sold? This is probably because, as mentioned earlier, the system was such that the right to subscribe to a telephone service could not be obtained unless the facility installation fee was paid. There were many people who wanted to get a landline phone, but the cost of setting up a facility was too high, so they wanted to be given the right to subscribe at a low price, and that’s why a market was created to buy and sell them.

However, while NTT’s fixed-line telephone network is improving year by year, demand itself is decreasing due to the rise of competing fixed-line telephone services that do not require facility installation fees due to telecommunications liberalization, and the further spread of mobile phones. . Despite this, an increasing number of voices expressed doubts and dissatisfied with NTT East and West’s collection of a 72,000 yen facility installation fee.

In order to reduce the burden on customers, NTT began offering a “phone subscription/light plan” in 2002. This is a system in which an amount equivalent to the facility installation fee (640 yen at the start of the service) is collected every month in addition to the basic charges and call charges.・You can now choose the Lite plan.

Overview of the “subscription phone/light plan” at the beginning of the service (from a press release from NTT East/West in 2002).The system is designed to reduce the initial cost by adding 640 yen, which corresponds to the facility installation fee, to the regular basic fee.

However, there was still a lot of dissatisfaction with the facility installation fees, which remained high despite the continued decline in value, and NTT East and West were forced to reconsider, and in 2005, the facility installation fees were lowered to 36,000 yen. Ta.

After that, due to the further expansion of the use of mobile phone services and the spread of optical IP phones due to the spread of optical broadband lines, the number of users of metal line fixed telephones decreased sharply, and unless you dare to contract and use a fixed telephone, There is no longer any need to worry about facility installation costs.

Changes in facility installation fees for subscriber telephones (from NTT East’s 2004 press release).The facility installation fee actually has a long history, but in 2005 it was set at 36,000 yen, the same as it is now.

I’m sure there is some dissatisfaction

However, no matter what NTT’s intentions are, in the past, a large initial investment was required to use a landline telephone, and the value of that investment has almost disappeared, causing dissatisfaction among those who paid for the installation of the facility. I’m sure it still exists today.

Furthermore, NTT claims that they collected a facility installation fee in order to lower monthly charges, but if you were to ask whether Japan’s landline telephone charges were low compared to other countries in the world, that would certainly not be the case. There are also actual situations.

As a result, dissatisfaction has continued over the years regarding telephone subscription rights and, by extension, facility installation fees, but NTT East and West, which collected these fees and installed metal lines across the country, are now running into a huge deficit due to a decline in the use of these metal lines. The reality is that they are suffering. To be honest, it is impossible to expect that the fees paid will be returned to the customer in any form.