From 5G to 6G in Asia, an embodiment of China's rise amidst Japan's decline

On March 1st, Japan’s Prime Minister Kishida validated the scrapping of the so-called “NTT law” in 2025. This law contains all rules applying to telecommunications operator NTT, which used to be wholly state-owned. Among them stands the obligation for the company to disclose its R&D results, which hinders its global competitiveness. Indeed, NTT bets hard on its Innovative Optical and Wireless Network (IOWN), which is meant to provide it a vantage point in the race to 6G. However, it will also drastically change the Japanese business environment, as NTT’s competitors have warned. Although this move will greatly unbalance the Japanese market, the rationale behind the revision of the law is that its overall outcome might be beneficial to Japan. Whereas the country used to be a preferred partner, for instance in the LTE infrastructure rollout, it has been outperformed by China in the 5G network implementation, in particular in Southeast Asia. Does the NTT law scrapping have the potential to be a watershed in China-Japan’s rivalry in Southeast Asia? Is it Japan’s last chance to position itself as a valuable 6G network roll out partner?