Wider wireless LAN access expected.

... IN BRIEF: The Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications intends to encourage the growth of WLAN hotspots. Legislation to amend the Telecommunications Business Law is to be put before the Diet, ministry sources said. Present law bars telecom operators from setting up relays on private property without the consent of the owner. In disputes, the telecommunications minister can intervene, seek compromise and ultimately decide whether such installations are "necessary and appropriate." Arbitrators have ruled, however, that LAN services are not covered by the law.

... COMMENTARY: The amended legislation appears to be in response to an incident last year where a venture telecom company, MIS, was barred from installing WLAN base stations in a Japan Railways (JR) station for, it felt, no good reason. Under the current law, if a WLAN network is deemed to be a "telecommunications circuit," JR would have been under much more obligation to accede to the request, and MIS could have appealed to the ministry for arbitration if JR did refuse. MIS did so anyway, but the arbitration commission ruled that WLANs are not "telecom circuits" under the law. Now the ministry wants to amend the law to stipulate that wireless LANs are "telecom circuits," and are thus covered by the consultation and mediation provisions. So it goes in Japan.

More Info: July 2002 WWJ video interview with MIS: "Real Public Access Wi-Fi." www.wirelesswatchjapan.com/vp/arch3.shtml